The Unknown Malfoy
by AoMorigirl
Summary: Harry changes when he turns sixteen. After a bad day Harry is removed from the Dursleys, but who pulled him out of there, and why would a Malfoy hug him?
1. Prologue

Title: The Unknown Malfoy

Rating: M

Warnings: AU, OOC, Evil Dumbledore, violence

Disclaimer: I swear I make no profit from this, and do not own Harry Potter, if i did, i wouldn't have to work anymore.

Prologue

Lucius stared at the letter lying on his desk, his mind trying to absorb what it was he had just read. Letting his usual mask slip for a moment, he placed his head in his hands. Why did that affair have to come back and haunt him? Hadn't he been punished enough when she had died? Why hadn't she trusted him with this information _before_ sixteen years had passed?

His lawyer had dropped the letter off that morning, saying that it was left behind in her will. That if she died, he was to know so that he could go and take care of his son.

Lucius stood up, determined to tell his wife what he had been told in the letter, and hoped that she was willing to help.

_'Of course she'll help. She has that maternal streak in her.'_ Lucius told himself as he walked down the corridor toward his wife's rooms. As he walked, he remembered the other woman he had loved, and almost stopped as a wave of the pain he had bee suppressing for so long caught up with him. Determination lit up his eyes as he knocked on the door in front of him.

"Narcissa? I need to talk to you." he called.

"Then come in." she called back, amusement in her tone.

Lucius stepped into the room, ignoring the gaze of his son whom he was sure was watching him.


	2. Chapter 1

Title: The Unknown Malfoy

Rating: M

Warnings: AU, OOC, Evil Dumbledore, violence

Disclaimer: I swear I make no profit from this, and do not own Harry Potter, if i did, i wouldn't have to work anymore.

Chapter 1

Harry stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, still not used to how he had changed in the week since he had turned sixteen. His hair had turned blonde and manageable, almost over night, getting him beaten by the Dursleys, and the bars had been put back on his windows, and he had been locked in his room ever since, the meals coming through the cat flap at the bottom of his door. He was hungry, and he had run out of the small amount of food he had been giving, so he was sure he would get thinner still. His features, already frail, had gained an almost feminine hint to them, as well as the general shape of his body.

He had had the thought that morning that he was beginning to look slightly like Malfoy, but he told himself that he was sure that he was imagining it. He had probably just lost control of his magic again. Not like that never happened.

Shuffling out of the bathroom, he passed his glaring aunt, and was then locked in his room again. He stared up at the ceiling, and the image of his godfather, falling into the veil, flashed behind his eyes. He rolled over, burying his head in his pillow.

He let the tears flow, and he felt the pain. He'd been telling himself that it wasn't his fault, it was Voldemort's, but he couldn't believe it. Another urge to cry washed over him as he remembered that Lucius Malfoy had been released from Azkaban almost immediately because of a _technicality_. He didn't blame Malfoy, he just was sad that Draco still had his father, while he didn't.

Thinking back to when he had refused Draco's friendship, he felt a pang of regret. He had become painfully aware that he had good friends, but that he had in all likely hood been turned against the blonde boy before they had met. Sadly, Harry gazed at his owl, sleeping in her cage on his desk. He had let her out the previous night, and wouldn't be able to until the next. Sighing, he went back to trying to clear his mind, a faint attempt to practice the Occlumency Professor Snape had tried to teach him the previous year.

-------------

Harry had finished all of his homework, and had nothing to do. He had listened to Vernon leave for the day, and now, late afternoon, Harry heard the front door close, as his Aunt Petunia left to go shopping for some food item that Dudley had begged her to get. Not long after, Harry heard snickering outside his door, and knew that something was wrong. He heard the locks being pulled back and undone. He sat up, and watched as Dudley and two of his friends stepped into Harry's room. Harry watched in growing fear as they walked toward him, making a half circle around where Harry sat on his bed, too weak to move. He hadn't eaten since the previous day's breakfast of some dry cereal in a plastic bowl.

"So, how are you feeling today, _freak_?" Dudley grinned at him. "You feeling tough, now that you're godfather is dead?"

Harry didn't react to the insult. He could still feel the bruise on his side from where he had been hit the previous week. Harry was also sore from the way he had changed, and so had no strength too fight back against his whale of a cousin.

"What do you want, Dudley?" he asked tiredly. And then he was seeing stars, as the first punch connected with his temple.

-----------------

The can of cold soup was pushed through the cat flap, but Harry didn't have the strength to look up, or move to get it. No one would come to check on him till the next day, since Dudley had supposedly been brave and let him out to use the bathroom. Now he coughed, the action making his lungs burn, and he felt a gurgling in his lungs, as he looked blearily at the blood on his hand he assumed was from his torn lip. He couldn't shift from his position on the floor, he thought he probably had some broken bones, and maybe some other problems. His vision swam, and he could only gaze at the wall that was opposite the door.

His mind only vaguely registered the sound of Vernon shouting downstairs, and his locks being pulled back. Harry vaguely wondered if he had supposedly done something that annoyed his relatives again. He was drifting into a state of half consciousness, when he felt himself being lifted, the pain causing him to cry out. He had a vague sensation of moving, the arms holding onto him delicately.

'_Maybe the Order has me. Or I'm being taken to Voldemort. Ha ha. That would be interesting. Wonder what he'd do to me?_' Harry wondered as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

AN: Sorry, I probably wont have a beta, and chapters may come at odd times. Give me feedback please!


	3. Chapter 2

Title: The Unknown Malfoy

Rating: M

Warnings: AU, OOC, Evil Dumbledore, violence

Disclaimer: I swear I make no profit from this, and do not own Harry Potter, if i did, i wouldn't have to work anymore.

Chapter 2

Harry was vaguely aware of murmuring voices. He hurt everywhere. Why couldn't they be quiet?

"So you're saying that there are signs that he has suffered this kind of abuse before?" The voice was deep, and carried a sense of power. Harry found himself relaxing despite himself, and falling back into sleep.

"Yes. That is what I am saying, however some of it could be from the spells wearing off so suddenly, and there being no one to help him with the process at the time. He has essentially become a different person in the time of a week. He will rest for a while yet..." Harry recognized that voice, and he tried to open his eyes, but he fell into a deep sleep.

'_Dreamless Sleep potion. Damn the greasy git._' And then Harry he was asleep.

-----------------

Harry opened his eyes. He could see. that struck him as odd. He knew that his glasses weren't on, but he could still see everything in the room perfectly clearly.

The walls were painted a deep green. The floor was covered in a plush green carpet. The chairs across the room were also in a green, although slightly lighter in color. The tiles around the fireplace were black, with carver serpents slithering up on either side. The chairs had silver pillows on them, and the sofa had a pale green blanket draped across the back. Looking at his bed, Harry could see that the sheets were made from a black silk, and the pillows and comforter were in a rich green. The canopy over his bed was a silvery gray. The walls were sparse. There was a painting of a moonlit clearing in a forest on the wall above the fireplace, and to the right of Harry's bed was a set of heavy, dark curtains, allowing only a crack of golden light to fall through onto the carpet. On the Wall to Harry's Left was a door. On one wall was a desk, and on the opposite wall was another door.

'_Where in the name of Merlin am I?_' he thought, trying to take all of this in.

That's when he that there was a bedside table to his right that held two cups of tea, and on that same side of his bed two chairs were drawn up, one containing a dark haired man, slouched forward and snoring lightly. He was beginning to think that the man looked familiar when he heard a toilet in the room through the door to the left of his bed, flush. Quickly, Harry laid back down, and evened his breathing. If there was on thing he could do, it was pretend to be asleep.

Quiet footsteps stopped by the bed, and he felt a gentle hand stroke his hair.

"When you wake up, little one, we have much to discuss." Harry recognized the voice. Lucius Malfoy. It took all his energy to not sit up and run from the room, but despite himself, Harry felt his body slowly slipping back into sleep, and the gentle hand continued to stroke his head.

'_I'm in soooo much trouble._'

-------------------

Harry woke up, and blinked. He was still in the strange, rich, definitely Slytherin oriented room. He blinked his green eyes. He was facing the canopy over his bed, lying on his back. He rolled his head to he side, feeling a pressure on his hand, and his eyes met a sight he thought he would never see.

Lucius Malfoy was sitting in what looked like an uncomfortable armchair, leaning forward on the bed, dozing with his head on his arms, holding onto Harry's hand with his slim, pale one. Harry tried to pull his hand out from the firm grasp, but the movement woke the man, and suddenly silver eyes were looking into his green ones for a brief moment, before he was being pulled into a hug so tight that he felt like he was being squeezed tighter than any hug Mrs. Weasley could ever hope to give.

Then, as sudden as the embrace had been, Lucius was gone, sprinting across the room to the door Harry assumed led to a hallway, and was throwing it open, shouting into the hall.

"Severus! Narcissa! He's awake, come quick!"

Then Harry was faced with his potions professor and the mother of his school rival, both approached the bed. Snape began running scans on Harry, evaluating how he was doing, while Narcissa held herself back, watching him with red rimmed eyes.

'_They must not have slept,_' he realized, as Snape began pulling vials out of a bag. Taking the opening, Narcissa hugged Harry to her, not as firmly as Mrs. Weasley, but enough to make him smile. Lucius noticed his smile, and became pleased, his lips turning up, as he watched his wife help the boy to take the potions he was offered by the potions master. Soon, Harry started to doze off, and Lucius turned to Snape.

"Severus, is it really necessary to put him to sleep again? He's slept a whole week already. Isn't that enough?" At his words, Harry struggled to sit up again, despite Narcissa's protests.

" A week?" he asked, stunned. Despite the heavy feeling in his eyelids, Harry tried to stay awake, fighting the potions he had just drank. He didn't know why he trusted the potions master, but he had downed the potions without too much protest. Now he was panicked. "What happened to my relatives? What about the Order? Do they know where I am? I have to get my stuff, my broom-"

"That is enough, Mr. Potter!" snapped Snape. The boy was working himself into a panic, despite the Calming Drought in his system, and he would not have the boy have a relapse. "We will retrieve your stuff. As for the Order," he sneered, his lip curling, "they will believe that you were taken in a raid against your house. Unfortunately, your relatives will be unable to tell of what happened, as they will have been killed in the initial assault upon the home. Now rest." Harry began to protest, but Narcissa pulled him into her arms, making shushing noises, rubbing soothing circles on his back, whispering reassurances and rocking slightly as he fell to sleep.

"No one knows where you are yet. When you wake up, we will need you, so your relatives aren't gone yet. Don't worry, ssshhhh..." And Harry cried slightly, relaxing into the warm embrace.

'_Maybe I can live with the Malfoys, they aren't so bad when they aren't trying to kill me or get me expelled. I wonder where Draco is._'


	4. Chapter 3

Title: The Unknown Malfoy

Rating: M

Warnings: AU, OOC, Evil Dumbledore, violence

Disclaimer: I swear I make no profit from this, and do not own Harry Potter, if i did, i wouldn't have to work anymore.

Chapter 3

Harry woke up again, this time remembering how he had fallen asleep, and he wasn't surprised to see Narcissa sitting in a chair by the fire place, reading a book. Sitting up, Harry took stock of his physical condition, rotating limbs and bending his joints, feeling the muscles protest. Stretching his spine, he could feel his ribs twinge. He didn't have any bruises, or anything on his skin that would suggest that he had been beaten almost to a life threatening point just, what he assumed, was a few days before.

Harry cleared his throat, and watched as the blonde woman's head snapped in his direction, a small smile on her lips.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Her voice was quiet, but smooth, a little musical to Harry.

"I'm fine. A little sore, but otherwise I'm fine." He became confused. "Where am I currently?"

"You are in Malfoy Manor." She was walking towards his bed, leaving the book on the chair she had been sitting in.

"Where's Draco? I only remember you, Mr. Malfoy, and Professor Snape." He suddenly felt a chill slide down his spine as a thought occurred to him. "Does Voldemort know where I am?" His voice was slightly panicked, and he ignored her flinch at the name of the Dark Lord, suddenly panicking, his breathing coming fast. "W-what is going to happen to me? Why am I here? How could-"

Harry was cut off by the door slamming open, causing Harry to jump, as Severus Snape came striding into the room, his black robes flaring behind him.

"Narcissa, I told you to keep the boy calm, not make him have a panic attack!" Snape snapped at her as he approached the bed.

"I didn't cause it," she snapped, "he thinks the dark Lord will hurt him, and he began to panic on his own. How'd you know, anyways?" Her voice was curious, but had a cold edge to it that told Snape that if he didn't answer, he was going to regret it.

"I had a spell on him to monitor his condition, I sent Draco to get Lucius when it was apparent that he was awake. Suffice it to say that, when I sensed the spell warning me of his stress levels, I hurried here faster than I had been." Snape snapped at her.

"B-but Voldemort will come. What will he do to me?" Harry felt like all of his nerves were on end, as he imagined being tortured at the hands of the man he had been taught to hate and fear. "How long have I been asleep, does he know I'm here already?" Harry looked at Snape, desperate to know.

"Take a deep breath, and I will answer that. Breath or I will make you take a calming draught." Snape waited as Harry tried to calm down, not looking forward to the foul tasting potion. "Very well. You were unconscious for a week, prior to your previous awakening. Since then, it has been two days. You needed your rest to recover your health. We must discuss the matter of you schooling from here on out. I expect that you will be-"

"Harry!" Lucius came dashing into the room, followed closely by Draco, who looked awkward as they stepped into the room. As Lucius approached, Draco hung back, staying out of the way.

Lucius stopped before the bed, surveying Harry, and Snape, who was glaring at the other man. Harry was thankful the man had held off hugging him, he wasn't sure if he would have been able to survive another bone crushing embrace.

"How are you, my boy?" His deep, melodious voice helped Harry relax as it had the very first time he had awoken, but not alerted the others to his conscious state. Looking at the man now, Harry had several thoughts going through his mind. He asked the first two that occurred to him, although he was sure there were other, more pressing questions he could have asked, he chose two that he found to be the most important to him at that moment, in his confused state of mind.

"Why did you take me out of there? Why did my body change?" he leveled his gaze at the man before him, daring him to not answer. "I would like to know the truth. I deserve to know why my enemies," he saw Lucius and Narcissa twitch at the word, "have suddenly taken it upon themselves to rescue me from my relatives, and take me to their home." Harry waited calmly.

"I recieved a letter," Lucius said, his voice even and clam, "on the day of your sixteenth birthday. it was in her will that if she had died, I would be given the means to know that you were my son." Harry's green eyes widened.

"I was determined that I would bring you here. At least get you away from the relatives you were supposed to be _safe_ with." Lucius spat the word, looking angry at the memory. "I never expected to find you in such a state when we arrived. I had been led to assume that you were being taken care of decently. When i informed the Dark Lord of our retrieval of you, he became angry. He did not punish Narcissa and myself for retrieving you. i do not yet know what he wants with you." Lucius now became quiet. Harry had paled through the story, and now he was absorbing what he had heard. His head spun, and his thoughts were confused. One thought seemed to make it's way through his muddled brain as he stared at the eldest Malfoy in horror.

'_Lucius Malfoy is my father._'

"Can I see the letter?" He asked numbly. Lucius nodded, and pulled an envelope out of a pocket inside of his robes.

"i thought you might like to see this now that you were awake." Lucius said as he passed the letter to Harry.

Pulling the letter out of it's envelope, Harry read the words, the fact that he was undoubtedly Lucius Malfoy's son sinking in.

**Lucius,**

**If you are reading this, then Harry is sixteen and i am dead. I left this letter with your lawyer when Harry turned a year old. We feared that we would be killed by one side or the other. Dumbledore is suspicious. The only way for James and I to make Harry safe is to use a Paternity charm to make him look like James. The spells will wear off when he is sixteen. If I were there, i would be able to help ease the transition, but I am afraid that the spell will wear off quite suddenly, and will be painful. **

**I know that Dumbledore will disregard our wishes to put harry with Sirius. The old coot, as James is now calling him as I write this. We both took political marriages, and because of that we had our affair. James knows, I'm not sure about Draco and Narcissa. I hope that this will not cause you too many problems, if the war is still continuing. **

**Harry is officially listed as Harry James Potter, but the name that I would like you to be able to call him, if you should wish to adopt him, is Alexander James Malfoy. I know you don't like James, I think that's why James wanted his name to be the middle name. You can keep the 'Potter' in his name if you wish. That is up to you and him. **

**I want you to know that I never stopped loving you, and that I will love both you and Harry (or Alexander), even if I turn into some pale ghost that terrorizes first-years at the school. **

**Much Love,**

**Lily Potter**

Harry read the letter again. Looking up, his eyes met with Draco's silver ones. The other boy had stood up and approached the bed while Harry had been reading. Lucius was looking at them nervously, and Snape had his usual scowl firmly in place. As Harry watched, Draco began to speak.

"Potter, I may not have gotten along with you. But if that letter and my father are to be believed, then you are my brother, and there's really not much I can do once my father has made his choice. That choice is to bring you into the family." Draco extended his hand, scowling at Harry. "I promise to get along with you as much as I can possibly get along with The-Boy-Who-Refused-To-Bloody-Die."

Harry took the offered hand, firmly shaking it, grinning while Draco smirked at him.

Lucius clapped them both on the shoulders, surprising them out of the handshake as they looked at the smiling man.

'_My father._' Harry corrected himself mentally.

"Well done, boys! Severus, Harry is allowed to eat, correct? We should celebrate!" Lucius was smiling, his eyes twinkling in joy.

"Harry should be limited to small meals of plain, but nutritious meals, as he is largely unused to more extravagant meals yet." Snape sneered at Lucius. Lucius looked like he had been deprived a toy, before straightening his back and putting on his Malfoy mask that Harry saw Draco use when they were at school.

"Very well, then. We shall simply discuss our plans. Harry," Lucius turned to him, "Do you feel up to discussing what we are to do with the coming school year? It would be best if we could come up with a plan as soon as possible."

"That is fine. I don't know how I'm going to be able to go back to school as Harry Potter with how I look now." Harry replied, gesturing to his now spectacularly blonde hair, and more delicate features.

"I was thinking we could enroll you at Hogwarts as our nephew who we have had abroad for schooling since he was small. This would explain why no one knows you. We didn't want to let you go, but your parents had specified in their will that you were to study abroad until you were sixteen. What do you were sixteen." Narcissa spoke up, capturing the attention of every one in the room. "It would allow you to be resorted into another house, explain your appearance, and why you and Draco will be getting along. As I'm sure you will." she added, with a pointed look at Draco.

"This would mean that everyone will think you as Harry Potter are gone, somehow. We have to figure that out. But you would have to leave your friends, and pretend to not know anything about the school. Following Draco would be the best option, so Slytherin would be the obvious choice of house for you to go into," Lucius glanced at Harry nervously, "however, I'm not sure how we would be able to handle that, with you being a Gryffindor..." he trailed off. Harry grinned, surprising them all.

"Don't worry about the Slytherin issue. I'm sure I could convince the sorting hat to put me in Gryffindor this time." Every one stared at him curiously.

"What do you mean 'this time'?" Draco asked curiously. Snape mearly raised an eyebrow in question.

"In first year, the hat said that I would be great in Slytherin. It said that it was hard to put me anywhere. I kept thinking 'not Slytherin', and so it put me in Gryffindor instead." Harry shrugged. "I may be Gryffindor's Golden Boy, but I have enough Slytherin in me to convince that hat to put me there. It'll probably be happy to put me there finally."

Everyone in the room stared at him in shock.

"Potter was almost sorted into Slytherin." Snape muttered to himself. Suddenly Harry became conscious that he was sitting in bed with a pair of silk, green pajamas on while everyone stared at him in shock.

"I'm now not so surprised that you survived this long now," Draco said, "you're apparently not just a stupid Gryffindor. You're stupid enough to fight the sorting hat about where you belong." A thoughtful expression came over the blonde's face. "I wonder how many other students have told the sorting hat to put them somewhere other than where it originally thought they should go."

Harry looked at him in shock.

"I wonder...I've never considered that, actually." Harry admitted.

As the conversation turned back to plans about how to enroll Harry at Hogwarts as Alexander Malfoy, Harry thought that this was what it must feel like to have a family. Everyone caring about everyone else. And that night, Harry forgot that he was supposed to hate Draco, as they sat on Harry's bed, plotting, in a friendly manner. Harry never thought about what Dumbledore, or his friends would think as the Malfoy family and he plotted how to make it look like Harry had been killed in a Death Eater raid on the Dursleys. To say that Draco was surprised with how much Harry supplied them with details to make the crime look real was an understatement. That night, Harry gained a family, and Draco gained a new appreciation for The-Boy-Who-Lived.


	5. Chapter 4

Title: The Unknown Malfoy

Chapter

Harry stood beside Lucius, starring at the heavy, wood double doors. He felt like he had a nest of serpents in his stomach, twisting his insides around and around, making him regret eating the sandwich he had eaten at the urging of Narcissa before he and Lucius had come to this place. Harry remembered the constricting feeling he had felt as Lucius had apparated, following the call of the Dark Mark burning on his arm. Now he tugged on the hood of the heavy dark robes that covered his face,his disguise for the meeting.

He felt Lucius shift nervously beside him.

"Just remember what I told you to do, and you'll be fine. I wont let anything happen to you, Harry." Lucius murmured to him.

Harry, realizing how surreal this would have seemed to him a month ago, smiled slightly.

"Don't forget to call me Alexander while we're in there, I don't think that most of the people in there would like to know that you have brought along the boy-who-lived to formally be introduced as your son."

Lucius snorted behind his mask, his face and distinctive hair covered by the hood of a robe identical to Harry's. Lucius reached out a slender hand, and pushed open the door, and they walked into the meeting, entering the center of Death Eaters, approaching the Dark Lord who stood at what could only be described as the head of the circle, his snake-like face peering at them as Lucius and Harry bowed before Voldemort. Dropping to their knees at the same time, they kissed the Dark Lord's robes, then crawled to an open space in the circle, Harry standing on Lucius's left, keeping his head bowed to try and keep his face hidden from the searching red eyes that watched his every movement.

"Lucius, I shall expect an explanation as to why you have brought a stranger into our midst after I have heard the other reports. If he does anything wrong, you shall suffer more than he shall." Voldemort's voice, while quiet, conveyed a menace that made Harry shiver. He could hear the slight hiss in hiss voice, and had a sudden image of the man before him rising from the boiling cauldron when he was in his fourth year, tied to the headstone. And then he saw Voldemort as he had looked at the Ministry of Magic earlier that year, and had to use all of his strength to keep from sobbing at the memory of the loss of Sirius. The voice of the Dark Lord brought him back to the room he was standing in, reminding him of the danger he was in if this went wrong. He realized that he must have been out of it for enough time for several Death Eaters to be called forward, give their report, be tortured, and crawl back to the circle, because several looked like they were in pain as he observed their stances. The figure crawling away from the feet of the Dark Lord was also a good indication he had missed something. As he wondered how he could have tuned out the screams from the men's tortures, Voldemort spoke again.

"Severus, what have you to report to us, my spy?" Harry looked at the cloaked figure that knelt in front of Voldemort, his head bowed, and Harry could see that his eyes were focused on the ground, even as he spoke to his master.

"Dumbledore becomes suspicious. He wonders why the Potter boy has not written to his friends this past week, and has decided that he will have to visit the boy in the next few days if his friends do not hear from him by mid week." Snape's voice was strong, and Harry wondered why he wasn't telling Voldemort that Harry had been staying at the Malfoy's. It also hurt him that Dumbledore hadn't decided he needed to be checked up on before now.

"Very well. Now, Lucius, come here." Harry watched as his father crawled up to the tall figure of the Dark Lord, kissing his robes, and then settling back to wait for what he would be asked. "Lucius, you are aware of our rules. Who is this that you have brought with you, tonight? Choose your words carefully, I may be inclined to take my frustrations out on you, if you are not careful. This has not been a very successful night."

"Yes, my Lord," Lucius kept his voice carefully even, "I have recently been given a letter. Just a few weeks ago, I received a letter from a previous lover of mine."

"And what could this lover have told you? Where are they, at this moment?" The Dark Lord's voice was cold as he spoke to Lucius, but Harry could hear the curiosity in his voice.

"She is dead, my lord. This letter was to be sent to me if she were dead. The letter that she sent to me informed me that together, we had created a child. The letter was sent to me on this child's sixteenth birthday."

Harry heard the quiet murmur of voices around the room.

"Quiet, all of you!" snapped the Dark Lord. "And this child is the one you have brought with you this evening? What is his name, Lucius?"

Harry tensed as he waited for the explosion he knew was about to happen.

"I have decided that he shall go by the name Alexander Malfoy, my lord. My son's name was previously that of Harry James Potter." The movement was sudden, half the wands in the room trained on Lucius while the other half pointed at Harry. Harry shrank back within his robe as Voldemort stepped around Lucius toward him. Lucius tried to rise, but someone his him with a petrification spell, and all Lucius could do was watch as his son was backed into a corner by the older wizard. Harry pressed himself against the wall. He felt the pain in his scar as Voldemort approached, and stopped in front of him. Harry could only watch in horror as the hand reached towards the hood hiding him from the view of the other wizards present. And then the hand was pushing the hood off his head, angry red eyes starring straight into his green ones.

The rest of the room grew quiet as they saw what Harry now looked like. Harry watched the eyes widen in surprise.

"Well, I must say, this is a pleasant surprise. Who would have thought that the saviour of the wizarding world would walk straight into my home, with no one but a Malfoy for protection. I was not aware that you were on, shall we say, positive terms with the Malfoy family. Tell me. What spurred this change of heart?"

Harry was barely capable of coherent thought. He was focused on that hand in front of his face, fearing what would happen if it shifted forward, and touched his face. He tore his gaze from the pale hand, staring into those red eyes.

"Nothing other than family ties, Voldemort." Harry was tempted to add _'not that you have any'_ to the end of his statement, but bit the inside of his cheek to keep the words that he knew would get him crucioed from spilling out. Harry watched as Voldemort's eyes widened a fraction as he realized what Harry was saying.

"Lucius is your father."

"Yes." '_Took you long enough, Voldie. Let's for a moment consider the distinctive blonde hair..._' Harry could barely hold back the sarcastic comment. it went against his nature to act so calm, and submissive. He had to make a conscious effort not to snort.

"We must speak, dear _Alexander_." Voldemort almost purred the word, making a chill creep up Harry's back. "Everyone besides, Lucius and Severus, you may go."

"But-My Lord-" Harry could hear Bellatrix trying to come up with a reason that Voldemort shouldn't dismiss her.

"You as well, Bellatrix. Now." Harry could hear the increase of malice in the cold, serpentine voice. Bellatrix must have as well, because she disappeared without another word. "Now, Harry, why don't we go to my study? I'm sure it will be much more comfortable than this room. Lucius, Severus, you may come as well." The Dark Lord turned, and swept out of the room.

Knowing that he was placing himself in the hands of the man he had been taught to hate and fear, Harry followed. He could feel his father walking slightly behind him to the right, and he relaxed slightly, trusting those behind him.

Voldemort's study was done in deep reds, the chairs stuffed, and comfortable. The desk stood opposite a grand fireplace, that wasn't burning, because of the heat already present from the summer atmosphere. Voldemort took the seat behind the desk, and summoned an extra chair beside the two already sitting before his desk. Harry stopped in the doorway, Lucius and Severus walking past him into the room. He could barely believe his eyes. The mantel, and edgings of the fireplace had golden snakes writhing in intricate patterns. He could see the golden stitching on the chairs. Voldemort noticed his look of awe, and chuckled.

"I may be the heir of Slytherin, but I like the color red very much. And gold happens to go best with red. I would use green, but my home would begin to look like some sort of Christmas tree. Now, what has made the great Harry Potter come to me. Surely he knows that I am all too willing to kill him, if it will gain me the upper hand in this war?" Lucius made as if to object, but Voldemort raised a hand, silencing him. "Let the boy speak for himself, Lucius." Voldemort's red eyes were trained on Harry's green ones, as he stepped forward and sat in one of the comfortable chairs.

"My new family is on your side, and so I figured that it was only fair if I at least learned a bit about you and your cause. I personally believe that Professor Dumbledore is not always as pure hearted as every one thinks. The fact that he has withheld important information that has always created a problem due to the fact that I did not know about it, is enough to make me rethink my loyalties."

"What makes you think our goals are, as you say, 'pure hearted'?" Voldemort's eyes glittered in a way that resembled Dumbledore's, except the Dark Lord's twinkle was much more disconcerting.

"I don't." Harry shrugged. "I just think that at least you're up front about your goals. You say, quite publicly that you dislike muggles, and so no one is surprised when you do something nasty to them. However, i have seen light supporters make comments about mudbloods, while publicly they say that they support muggles, and muggle born witches and wizards. That kind of hypocrisy annoys me."

"What if I withhold information from you as well? Would that change your mind about joining us?" Voldemort's voice was politely interested, but Harry could hear the eagerness in his words. If Harry joined him, the whole course of the war would change.

"If you did, i would trust that you would be at least up front about it, and that you would tell me anything that would be crucial, and I could mess up if I wasn't careful." Harry shrugged again. "Other than that, I'm all for joining you."

Harry could see the triumphant gleam in Voldemort's eyes.

"Then, I am happy to acknowledge you as one of my followers. But first, we need to find a way for 'Harry Potter to disappear. Severus, you said that Dumbledore would be stopping by the house?"

"Yes, My Lord. He is worried because Harry has not written to them."

"Well then, Harry, write Dumbledore a letter now, saying that you were out of paper, and it took you a bit to get some more, that you are fine, and they shouldn't worry. Alright?" As he spoke he pulled some parchment out of his drawer, along with a quill, and ink, and and handed them to him. Harry wrote the letter quickly, expressing that he was perfectly fine, and they shouldn't worry. Harry took the letter, and put it in a pocket inside his Death Eater's robes to send with Hedwig when he got back. Voldemort spoke again.

"And we will need to execute a plan to make it look like you my newest ally, have been captured by the dark, even killed. Who would you like to carry out the task?" They spent the next hour outlining a plan for how the LeStranges, Lucius Malfoy, and Goyle Senior would break into number 4 Privet Drive and kidnap Harry. Harry would go with them, so that he could make sure that everything looked like it should, and he could retrieve his belongings. Lucius, Severus and Harry left the study, with the instructions to wait for their coconspirators to arrive at Malfoy Manor.

"I will apparate to the edge of the Hogwart's wards when you have returned, so that I can inform the Headmaster of the 'tragic raid I was not informed of'. The old fool puts too much trust in me. After this, I will make it clear that the Dark Lord does not trust me. Correct?" Severus spoke as they walked to the fireplace to floo back to Malfoy Manor.

Harry nodded, and Lucius snorted.

"If the old fool hasn't been able to see what side you are really on after this long, I bear no pity for his fate." They stepped into the large fireplace as a group, shouting out their destination. "Now Severus, is the Headmaster aware that he will be receiving a new student for the coming school year?"

"Yes Lucius," they were crossing the parlor, entering the winding halls that made up the manor, "he is aware that a relation of the Malfoy's will be attending Hogwarts this coming school year because his parents are having a divorce, and do not want him involved in the custody battle. Really, I have doubts about whether any of the staff will believe there is a Gryffindor Malfoy."

Harry grinned at his potions teacher.

"Don't worry about that. I'll take care of it."

Severus sighed.

"I have no doubt you will wreak havoc upon that poor hat." Lucius laughed.

-----------------

Number 4 Privet Drive, two hours later:

The front door quietly swung open, silent, no one in the quiet house woke up, or noticed anything wrong. The cloaked figures silently drifted up the steps, avoiding the squeaky step at the bottom of the steps. The stole into the upstairs bedrooms, and with a few muttered words, the muggles in the two bedrooms were dead. Following a slight figure, they stopped in front of a door that had several padlocks on the outside. Carefully, one of the figures, a white mask covering their face, wild hair falling out of the hood, stepped forward, and pointed her wand at the door, blasting each lock apart. Then she blew the door inward. The size of the room appalled the Death Eaters. They had always imagined that the saviour of the wizarding world would have been spoiled, taken care of. Instead they were greeted by a small room, empty cans of cold soup to the side of the door. Harry swept forward, and pulled up a loose floor board under his bed, pulling out his treasures. he then sat on the bed, and Lucius stepped forward.

"You actually want to be hit by a cutting curse?" Lucius had no reservations about hexing the living day lights out of a muggle, or even some other wizards, but he was reluctant to cause his new son actual harm. Harry had taken off the robe, and set it on the floor so it wouldn't be caught by any of the blood he was sure would spray once the curse hit.

"Yes. We need it to look like you took me by force, and that I didn't have any choice but to come, or was incapable of leaving. Now, if you can't do it, let Bellatrix do it, I'm sure she would love the opportunity to hex me." Harry knew that Lucius wouldn't let Bellatrix touch him, he didn't trust the witch to not kill his son. With a sad look in his eyes, Lucius raised his wand, aiming it at his son's chest.

"_Sectumsempra._" His voice was quiet as he said the spell. The curse hit Harry in the chest, tearing open a large gash. The blood began to flow, and Lucius almost cast a healing spell, as he watched his son's limbs twitch with pain. Rabastian's hand whipped out and grabbed Lucius's wand hand.

"You heal him now, and the whole plan goes down the drain. The aurors will be able to tell, and we need to trail the blood down the halls. The longer wait, the harder it will be for Snape to heal him. Now _move_." Rabastian let go of his hand and Goyle stepped forward, scooping the boy into his arms. harry moaned, and Lucius had to fight the urge to scream as the slowly made their way down the stairs, and through the door. Once they were outside they apparated to their master's home.

The moment they appeared in the room, Severus stepped forward, and pointed his wand at Harry's still form, murmuring a healing spell that sounded vaguely like a song. Lucius fretted, and hovered, watching as Lucius forced blood replenishing potions down Harry's throat. finally, after what felt like ages, Severus sat back on his heels, looking at the body lying in front of him, chest rising and falling softly with each breath.

"He'll live, Lucius. Take him home. Make him rest for a day. That should be enough time for him to recover. Make the house elves give him something healthy to eat. He needs to keep up his strength if he intends to go into Diagon Alley with you and Draco the day after tomorrow to get the books for Hogwarts. The letter should arrive tomorrow. Now, I have to go. i have an old fool to trick." Without another word, he turned to Voldemort, standing at the back of the group, bowed, and disapparated.

Lucius was about to pick up his son when Voldemort spoke to him.

"Make sure you tell him that he did well, and I wish him luck in the coming school year." Lucius nodded in acknowledgment, and pulled Harry into his arms, cradling the slight form to his chest.

When he appeared in his office, he walked to the door, and down the hall. A house elf must have told Narcissa and Draco that they were back, because both members of his family came running towards them, wearing bathrobes over their pajamas, Draco's a shirt and pants of green silk, Narcissa's a pale blue nightgown. Draco opened his mouth to speak, but the look Lucius sent him made the boy close his mouth, eyes fixed on Harry's still form. Lucius made his way to Harry's room, and laid the teenager on the bed, pulling off his shoes, sock, and outer layer of clothing, all of which was covered in blood. Leaving him in his underwear, Lucius tucked his son into bed, and kissed him on the forehead, before leaving the room.

"Lucius, how did it-" Narcissa was interrupted by a soft pop as a house elf appeared next to them in the hallway.

"Master Lucius, Mister LeStrange is here to see you." The house elf was bowing low enough that her ears touched the ground.

"Very well. Where is he?"

"He is in your study, Master." Was the response. Lucius growled, and swept towards his office, leaving a nervous Narcissa and Draco behind.

Rodolphus LeStrange was standing in his study, leaning against Lucius's desk, holding a black bundle, examining his finger nails.

"You left this in Harry's room, and Rabastian asked me to give you the boy's stuff that was under the stairs." he paused, pulling out a shrunken trunk from the bundle. "They had his wand locked up under the stairs. There were pictures under there, and a mattress. The boy lived in that cupboard until very recently. That's all I came to say. Good evening." Rodolphus put the bundle, and shrunken trunk on the desk, and walked to the fireplace, flooing to his own manor, leaving Lucius to his own thoughts.

And those were murderous thoughts. Thoughts about the treatment his new found son had received from his muggle relatives who were supposed to have been protecting him. As his thoughts roamed, a vase at the other end of the room, and a picture frame on his desk cracked. He regretted not torturing those muggles before he had killed them. Furious, he picked up the objects on the desk, and swept off to put them in Harry's room.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter would I be posting my ideas here?

A/n: Thanks to Darra Greymist for beta-ing. I was alerted to the fact that there was a mistake in this chapter by a reviewer, so thanks for that! I've changed it. I didn't catch it. Thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 5

Harry opened his eyes. Draco's face was inches from his. With a yell, Harry rolled away from the impending face, and fell on his stomach as he fell off the bed.

"What the bloody hell was that for, Draco?" grumbled Harry as he pushed himself off the floor, and pulled himself up onto the bed again.

"Well, Mom and I were worried because you came in last night covered in blood. Dad then proceeded to lock himself in his study and work all night. I don't think Mom's managed to blast through the wards on his door yet. And," Draco looked at him cautiously, "you were having nightmares."

Harry looked at him cautiously.

"What did I say?" He had a feeling he already knew. He had dreamed about the night in the Department of Mysteries when Sirius had died. He had seen him fall through the veil, and he had again been unable to stop it. He had killed Sirius.

"Mainly you just yelled 'Sirius' a lot." Draco's eyes widened as he took in Harry's sad expression. His eyes widened further as he watched Harry, clad only in his boxers draw his knees up to his chest, bury his face in his knees, and begin to sob. He was apparently overwhelmed by this show of emotion, and Harry felt guilty for burdening his new brother with his emotions. When Draco got up from the bed, and bolted from the room, Harry felt the empty hole in his chest that had begun to heal pulse again. Not even his family was willing to put up with him. His sobbing resumed with renewed force.

Suddenly the door burst open, and a wild haired Narcissa came rushing in, followed closely by Draco. One look at Harry, and she sat on the bed, pulling Harry into her lap, and rocking back and forth gently, rubbing his back. Despite how much they had been feeding him, he was still very light, and bony. She could feel his bones through his bare skin.

"Draco, why don't you see if your father will come out now? Perhaps yelling at the door will help. If that fails, cast some blasting spells, and then yell more. I have the feeling he'll be able to explain this better. It might have something to do with what went on last night." Narcissa's voice was soft, but firm, and Draco dashed from the room. Several moments later, they heard a bang, and then the sound of Draco shouting at the study with a magically amplified voice. It vaguely occurred to Harry that his door might have a silencing spell on it as Narcissa closed the door on Draco's yelling voice.

"GET YOUR ARSE OUT HERE!! WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO MAKE HARRY ACT LIKE SOME-"

"Harry, what happened last night?" Her voice was soft, and instead of quieting, Harry found himself sobbing even harder, and clutching to Narcissa's bathrobe. He couldn't get the words out. He couldn't tell her that it had nothing to do with the Dursleys, that the gaping hole in his chest was left from Sirius, and no matter how kind his new family was to him, he would always have that gaping space. He couldn't tell this kind woman who welcomed him into her home like she was her own son that no matter how much he loved them, he would miss Sirius.

Harry buried his head in the soft fabric of Narcissa's robe, trying to steady his breathing as she rocked him patiently. She smelled of something faintly flowery. Breathing in her scent he was able to calm himself. He spoke with his head still resting against her shoulder.

"In the Department of Mysteries, when Lucius was arrested, my godfather died." Harry felt Narcissa stiffen, and tried to apologize. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mean or anything. I'm sorry Lucius got arrested, it just-it's all my fault. I didn't ask anyone if what I saw in that vision was true. I couldn't even tell that it was a fake, that Voldemort had planted it in my head. I charged off with my friends, almost getting them killed. And getting Sirius killed. It's all my fault; Bellatrix cast the spell that made him fall, but it was all my fault. Everyone got hurt because of me." Harry felt the tears falling down his cheeks, and then Narcissa was twisting his face so she could look into his eyes.

"Harry, that is not your fault. None of that is. If anything, it's Dumbledore's fault for keeping Sirius locked up for so long that he'd feel the need to go and do something reckless, and Sirius's fault for doing something that reckless and leaving you alone. You should never, _never_ blame yourself for other people's mistakes, or for what we adults do. We are responsible for our own actions, and I wish I could smack that old fool for leaving you alone with those muggles, and letting you blame yourself so." her eyes were soft, and she gently pressed a kiss into his forehead, right on his scar. "Now, stop punishing yourself over this."

Harry nodded, green eyes sad.

"Is there anything else that's worrying you, sweet heart?" Her voice was calm; she could feel that there was something else wrong with her new son.

Harry looked at her sheepishly, his green eyes lowered, not meeting her grey blue ones.

"Yeah, but..." His voice quivered, and he started to cry again, shaking lightly in Narcissa's arms.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucius was staring at the wall across from his desk, wondering what he had done to make Lily keep something from him as important as a son. Sure, he had become a death Eater, but surely that wasn't enough to make her fear he would do something terrible to her.

'_Nope, you know that she would think you were a risk, what else was she to think after you told her what you were? She was a muggleborn, after all.'_ Thinking back to the day he told her, he realized that she was probably about to tell him about the baby.

--------------------Flashback---------------------

"Lucius?" her voice lilted to him through the open door to his bedroom. He jumped up, and ran towards the door, stopping when he saw her cheeks, still flushed red from the cold outside. He smiled at her hesitantly. "I need to tell you-"

"Wait," he held up a hand, signaling her to stop. He pushed a blonde lock behind his ear, his silver eyes gazing into her emerald ones. "I need to tell you something I should have told you when we first started this." He paused, and drew in a breath, he felt her squeeze his hand in encouragement. "Since my fifth year, your second, I have been in the service of the Dark Lord." He could feel her stiffen before him, and he looked at the floor, afraid he would see fear in her eyes, the eyes he loved so much."

"You're a Death Eater?" her voice was soft. He raised his eyes to meet hers, the expression unreadable.

"Yes. Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

His relief at her response was such that his shoulders visibly relaxed. He smiled at her, his aristocratic face brightening.

"So, what was it you were going to tell me, Lily?"

"Nothing. Nothing important."

------------------------End Flashback-----------------------------------------

Lucius put his head in his hands, and had a blissful moment where he imagined wringing Albus Dumbledore's neck, as well as those of the two muggles who had been given custody of his son. Sighing, he got up, and made his way to the door. Several feet away, he lowered the wards he had erected to keep everyone in the mansion from disturbing him, even the house elves. He was immediately assaulted by the sound of a hex exploding on the other side of the heavy wooden doors, and then the sound of his son shouting at him.

"GET OUT HERE I SAID!! MUM'S WITH HARRY BUT SHE HASN'T BEEN ABLE TO CALM HIM DOWN YE-" Lucius yanked the door open, and glared at his son.

"Where's Harry?" His voice was cold, but heavily laced with concern for his newest son.

"In his room, he just started crying-" Again, ignoring the rest of his son's statement, Lucius dashed down the hall to Harry's room to hear him talking to Narcissa. He paused to hear what Harry was saying, halting outside the door, Draco coming to a stop behind him, also silent.

"I-I just don't want to disappoint you, or Lucius. I've never really had a family before, and I just...I keep having this fear that I'll do something to make you not want me anymore, and you'll give me away. I don't want to be a burden either, you've already done so much, it's so hard..." He stopped speaking with a choked sob. Lucius heard Narcissa murmur to him, and felt a twinge of pride at just how quickly his wife had taken on a surrogate mother role to the new son she was presented with.

"You are not a burden Harry, and nothing you can do will make us give you away. We will always love you, that's what family's for." Her voice was firm, but Harry still seemed to have doubts.

"But-"

"No, Narcissa is right, we will never give you up, and you will never be a burden. You are our son, and that is final." Lucius strode toward them across the room, Draco right behind him. "I think that it's time to start calling you by your real name, Alexander."

Draco grinned at his brother, and held out a hand, kindly ignoring the tear tracks still present on the pale cheeks.

"Welcome to the family, Alexander."

And Alexander took Draco's hand, the two blonde haired brothers smiling at each other, and Lucius grinned, slapping Draco on the back, and smiling at his wife, glad that both his sons were friends after all this time.

------------------------------------A Little While Later, Hogwarts Express-------------------------

Lucius hugged both his sons, and he and his wife waved goodbye to the two boys as they got on the train. He was still pleased that the plan to make it look like Harry Potter had died had been so successful. The Daily Prophet had published a moving article o how the world would miss the boy-who-lived, and that they would remember him in their hearts, and continue the fight against Voldemort without him. The Dark Lord had summoned them, and asked Alexander if he would miss his friends, the Granger girl and the Weasley boy, but he had simply told them that he would possibly miss them, but it was not likely because they had never truly been his friends. They were too devoted to Dumbledore, and he had known where they stood, especially after Hermione had told McGonagall about his Firebolt when he had first gotten it. He would be surprised if they truly showed any real grief at Harry Potter's death. Lucius had been surprised that he would willingly leave the Gryffindor Trio, but he had gotten over his shock quickly enough.

He and Narcissa Apparated away, not willing to stay long on the platform. The moment Lucius got back to the manor, he knew that he would be sent on a raid, and he grinned at the thought of what he might get to do. Although he was kind to his family, he had no qualms, and even enjoyed torturing them. No one in his family doubted his ability to be cruel.

On the train, Alexander and Draco were in a compartment, putting their trunks up. Draco looked at his brother nervously.

"You sure you'll be alright if I leave you here to go to the prefect's compartment? I don't know when I'll be back." He was cautious about leaving his brother alone, afraid that if he left him he would get attacked by some Gryffindor 'hero' or harassed by some of his housemates. He wasn't sure how it would go over, another Malfoy appearing out of the wood works, and not just a distant relative, his brother.

"I'm sure, it's not like anyone knows me, and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Go do your prefect thing, whatever it is you do in that compartment." He grinned at his brother, and pushed the other boy who was his same height out the door. Draco looked at him doubtfully. "I'll be fine, how much trouble could i get in on one train ride?"

"A lot. Okay Alex, I'm leaving you on your own, but make sure that you don't do anything that could get you into serious trouble before your first day, even. We look too much alike for people not to notice the similarity. And, how much trouble?" Alex was pushing him out the door, and starting to close the door to the compartment. "Trouble comes to you, like Thestrals to a carcass." Alex grinned as his brother replaced his Slytherin mask and walked to his destination. Closing the door, he went to one of the seats, bundles his sweater behind his head for a pillow, wrapped his black cloak around himself, and fell asleep.

It didn't feel like it was a long time when he was awakened by several voices speaking.

"But Ron, there aren't any other compartments, and i doubt he'll mind, maybe he's a new professor, he's too old to be a first year."

"But Ginny, what if he's a Slytherin? What would Harry say if he knew we were in a compartment with one?" Alex almost snorted as he heard Ron's pitiful response, but continued to pretend that he was asleep, listening as Ginny forced her brother to take a seat across from where Alex was sleeping.

"Do you know how tired I am of hearing that excuse from you? Do you? That's how you justify everything now. 'What would Harry think if he knew that this', 'What would Harry do if he saw that', well, I'm sick and tired of you reminding us all that he's dead, so just shut up, and sit here for the train ride." Alex decided that he had let them talk enough, so he yawned, and stretched, sitting us, the hood of his cloak sliding off his blonde hair. He could hear Ron's intake of breathe as he took in the hair, and lithe figure. Alex blinked at them, as if just noticing them.

"I'm sorry, i wasn't aware anyone had come in while I was asleep." He smiled at her calmly, keeping eye contact with the girl.

"Sorry, we just got here, I'm terribly sorry if we woke you."

"No, it's perfectly alright, you didn't wake me at all, I was just passing a bit of time. I'm Alexander. And you two might be?" Alex held out a hand which Ginny shook, looking slightly nervous, but putting on a brave face.

"I'm Ginny Weasley in fifth year, and this is my brother Ron, he's in his sixth year. We're both in Gryffindor, are you new?"

"Yes, I'm starting this year. My cousin is a prefect, that's where he is at the moment, I'm a little nervous about being sorted. I don't particularly care for the enforced rivalry, it wont help us if we one day need to unite to fight this war, with the prejudices that are in place. However, I know that it is important to my aunt, uncle, and cousin, so I don't want to let them down."

Ginny smiled at him, and Alex gave a mental snicker, she was such a sucker for a sad face, but Ron wasn't so easily distracted.

"So, you have a last name, Alexander?" Ron's voice was slightly hostile, "Or are you just going to hit on my sister?"

"I didn't think I was hitting on her," frowned Alex, "but if I was, Miss Weasley, I apologize for it. And yes, Mr. Weasley, I have a last name, I simply wished to make a positive impression before you were influenced by my name. My last name is-"

"Hey, are these two weasels bothering you?" Alex looked to the door to the compartment to see Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle standing in the compartment doorway, exchanging glares with Ron. Smiling, Alex scooted over on the bench he was sitting on, making room for the two large Slytherins.

"No, we were just talking. How about you join us? Or are you already settled down in another compartment? I'd hate to impose." Alex saw the two boys exchange looks before shrugging, and sitting next to him, across from the two Weasleys. Alex smiled at them, still pretending to be completely innocent of how tense Ron and Ginny were at the moment. "I assume all of you have met? I think Vincent and Gregory are in the same year as you, Ron." He smiled, and Ginny gave him a shaky smile back, clearly intimidated by the two hulking Slytherins.

"Yes, we know them. Where do you know them from?" Her voice was deceptively calm as she spoke.

"Yeah, where'd you meet the thugs?" Ron sneered at him, his eyes darting between the two scowling boys.

"Well, my cou-" Again, the compartment door opened before he could finish his sentence, and he sighed, drawing the attention of Hermione Granger to him. Her eyes narrowed at him, and he smiled tiredly. "I'm Alexander, and you are?"

"Hermione Granger. What are you doing here?" She looked at them as if they were going to hex her at the first opportunity possible. However, before he could say anything, Ginny spoke up in his defense, scooting over so Hermione could sit between her and her brother.

"We came in here after he had already taken a seat, so we were the ones to first bother him, and nothing really has happened, we've just been talking."

"Oh yeah, I should warn you, Malfoy-"

"What about me, Granger? I am perfectly capable of hearing, you know." Hermione jumped, and everyone turned to look past her into the corridor at Draco Malfoy, glowering at her.

"Ah!" Alex smiled at his brother, enjoying the scene before him. "How was your meeting?"

"Well," Draco raised an eyebrow at his two friends, sitting on the seat next to his brother. "Didn't I tell you to make sure he didn't waste too much energy?"

Gregory shrugged. "He seemed fine, and he hasn't done much but try and tell them his last name's Malfoy. He didn't seem too tired to me."

Draco glared at Alex.

"Didn't I tell you to take it easy? Didn't my father tell you to as well? And what do you do? The exact opposite of what we tell you. If you're not careful you could cause yourself to have a relapse. Remember what happened when we went to Diagon Alley, and you accidentally pulled your wound open? You gave yourself_another_ wound to be healed. If you hurt yourself when I can prevent it, I will make sure you go straight home." His gaze was intense, and Alex rolled his eyes.

"It's not like talking will make me pass out, or pull open that cut on my side, so relax, I'm not some delicate flower. Remember who can still beat your butt on a broom." Alex raised an eyebrow as his brother snorted.

"You're hurt?" Ginny's voice was curious. "Is that why you were taking a nap?"

Alex winced under his brother's gaze.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ron looked baffled at why the boy he now knew to be Malfoy's cousin would hide that he was injured, surely the Slytherin characteristics he was sure ran in the family would have made Alex milk his injury for all it was worth. But Alex just shrugged, and changed the subject, avoiding the topic of when they had been in Diagon Alley a few days prior, and the injury from when he had faked Harry Potter's death had pulled open, and he had fallen over, cutting his side, and hitting his head. Every one had been watching him like a hawk, and Snape could only guess that Harry wasn't healing like he should because of his resistance to magical healing because he had been put through so much of it earlier in his life, that, combined with the magic that had held him in the form that resembled his adoptive father, he had developed a temporary resistance to magical healing and potions. Therefore, he had to heal slowly, making his older brother worry, and he didn't like it.

"So, what are you supposed to do while we're on the train, Draco?"

"Nothing, Hermione and I have already taken our turn to patrol the train, now we're free for the next bit of the trip." Draco smiled, and smashed himself in between Vincent and his younger brother. Hermione was still looking at them nervously and shifted nervously next to Ron.

"We should really change into our robes soon, we'll be arriving in just a bit." Hermione took Ginny's hand, and pulled her to the door, Ron following behind them. Ginny waved at Alex.

"See you at the welcoming feast!" She called before the door to the compartment closed, effectively shutting them off from the Gryffindors. Draco turned to his brother and raised an eyebrow.

"Enjoy yourself?"

"Yes, actually. I had a quite enjoyable time." He smiled, and stood, pulling his robes out, and slipping the unmarked robes on over his clothes. "You don't have to fuss, I can take care of myself." As if to betray his point, he yawned, and could feel his eyelids droop. Draco, having pulled on his robes at the same time, just grinned, and pushed Harry down on one of the two benches, and gave him a glare, silencing his protests.

"Sleep, I'll wake you up when we get there, and then Crabbe, Goyle, and I will ride with you in one of the carriages."

"What about Pansy?" he yawned, falling asleep fast. "Where is she?"

"She's with her friends, we had a falling out at the end of the year on the train, and so we aren't seeing each other any more. Now. Go. To. Sleep." He sat down next to Crabbe and Goyle, and they spoke in hushed tones.

When Alex next woke, the train had stopped, and the sky outside was dark. Grumbling about trains that moved too fast, both Malfoys climbed into a carriage with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. They got to the castle, where Professor McGonagall was waiting to meet Alex.

"Please follow me, Mister Malfoy. We will sort you into your house before the first years, as there are a lot of them, and one of you, and it will allow you to find your seat faster." With that, she swept around, and strode to ahead. Alex shrugged, and took up after her at a slower pace. He started to fall behind, and tried to hurry, but he felt the pain in his side that made him slow again.

When they got to their destination, McGonagall waited a few moments before ushering him through the doors into the Great Hall. He could feel everyone's eyes on him as he was ushered along the tables to sit on the stool. He sat, and could feel the hat hovering above his head before it was slowly lowered onto his head.

"Aaaahhh, you are back again, I see." The soft voice whispered in his head. "I assume you would like me to not place you in Gryffindor? Yes, that would give the old man too much pleasure. How about I take a look into hour thoughts. Hhhmmmmm... Better be..." Harry could feel the tension from the hall filling him as he waited, holding his breath, eager for what the hat would say." SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin table burst into applause, and Alex walked over to sit with his brother proudly, relieved that he had not been sorted into Gryffindor, as he had feared. Now, he sat with his brother as various housemates congratulated him. As soon as things had quieted down, the first years were led in, and the sorting began.

This year, Dumbledore's speech touched on the loss of Harry Potter, and how they would miss him. Alex had to use all of his self-restraint from laughing at the sad attitudes of everyone in the room. They had looked at the boy-who-lived as a weapon, the one who would defeat Voldemort while they all sat around and waited for the war to be over. The speech continued with the usual warnings about the forbidden forest and various rules they should all be aware of. At the end of it, Alex was all but asleep again. He had slept a lot lately, and it was beginning to annoy him to no end.

When he finally made it to his room, he simply fell into bed, falling asleep almost instantly. Grinning, Draco lifted his younger brother in his arms, holding him as Blaise Zabini pulled back the blankets before lowering the sleeping form into the bed, and tucking him in. Despite how much Alex had been eating while at the Manor, Draco still was worried over how light his brother was. Sighing, he changed, and climbed into his bed next to Alex's, smiling as he thought of the next day when they would start classes.

"Hey, Draco," Blaise stood next to Draco's bed, looking nervous. Draco groaned. "Do you think we'll have potions with the Gryffindors?"

"Do we ever not?"

"True, but..." His friend was obviously nervous, making Draco sigh.

"Listen, we'll have classes with them at some point, and I'm sure you will have ample time to tell him that you like him. Now, stop worrying and go to bed." Draco rolled onto his side as he heard the other boy move to his own bed, and pulled the hangings around his bed shut for privacy before finally falling asleep.


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing, JK Rowling does. I only have an imitation of a Firebolt I made in fourth grade, and an imitation of Gryffindor's sword. And two Timone and Pumbaa plushies (Lion King, people!).

Beta's note: She also knows how to make butterbeer. Still trying to get the rights to sell it out of her…

Chapter 6

Alex rushed up to the Great Hall. As soon as he was there, it took all he had not to go to the Gryffindor table. He had actually taken about three steps in that direction before realizing he was in Slytherin and rushing off to the correct table.

"Draco! Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked as he dropped into the empty seat on his brother's left and started helping himself to toast and eggs.

"I thought you would be able to wake yourself up, actually. You did set an alarm, didn't you?" Draco ignored the odd looks being sent at his brother for putting scrambled eggs on top of his toast with butter. Alex stopped with the toast in his mouth, and pulled it out, a chunk still in his mouth.

"Oh." Draco had the strongest urge to bang his head on the table that is, if it wouldn't have been completely inappropriate for a Malfoy to do something like that.

"Please, don't talk with your mouth full. You may have been horribly neglected, but a Malfoy behaves better in public." Harry glared at his brother. Draco had learned that as long as he seemed to be joking, and didn't mention anything specific, his brother didn't mind the occasional reminder. In Alex's opinion, it was true.

"Yeah, 'ure" was the deliberate, muffled reply. Draco narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Why I-"

"Hi there, Alex." Alex turned around, swallowing his food quickly to see Ginny Weasley standing behind him.

"Hello. What can I do for you, Miss Weasley?" asked Alex, smiling politely, Draco quietly dumping the eggs off his toast behind him. Ginny blushed slightly, but continued to smile cautiously.

"I was wondering if you were any good at potions, or Defense Against the Dark Arts." She asked. Alex smiled.

"I am actually, very good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, and have had a tutor in Potions over the summer, so I should be able to help you with your potions level." Ginny smiled at him.

"Would you mind tutoring me, if I have any trouble? Potions isn't my best class."

"Of course. Have a good breakfast." As Ginny walked away, Alex turned back to his breakfast, and looked at his toast, as if wondering how the eggs were removed from the bread. He looked at Draco, but his brother was calmly, and innocently putting jam on a piece of bread. With a put upon sigh, Alex picked up his toast, and then put the eggs back on, this time adding a piece of bacon, and a squirt of hot sauce, which magically appeared before him on the table. Draco couldn't hide his horror at his brother's food choice. Smiling, Alex bit into his creation, staring at his brother pointedly as he did so. With a shudder at the manners displayed, Draco went back to his plate.

Ten minutes later, they were hurrying down to the dungeons to have their potions class with the sixth year Gryffindors. Alex's blonde hair fell out of the clumsy ponytail he had put it in that morning, and so while they were waiting, Draco pulled it back, making sure every hair was in it's proper place, and tying it back. While Draco's hair was almost white, Alex's had some red tints, a few reddish hairs that, when the sun hit it, made his head have a red glow. The Gryffindors walked up as Draco put the finishing touches on his little brother's hair.

"So Malfoy," said Ron, apparently looking for a fight, "you and your cousin close? Do you do each other's hair often? Like a couple of girls, if you ask me." Alex could feel his brother's rage boiling up at the comments from his ex-best friend.

"Actually, I was in the hospital for a time," said Alex, stepping between the two boys, "I was badly hurt, and one of the injuries I sustained was to my arm. I still find it difficult to coordinate my hands, especially when I am tired, or can't see what I am doing. When I was injured, my cousin here helped me to get around, sacrificing some of his time. I am very grateful for him doing that." Alex smiled, hoping the issue would resolve, but not counting on it, Ron was a pain sometimes.

"So you got hurt huh? Did you and your little Death Eater friends go on a raid? Kill some muggles, did you?" Now Alex was mad. Although it was true that his family went on raids, Ron had no right to say those things.

"Actually, no, it was my family that did it, it's why Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy removed me from my home previous home after it got too bad. Satisfied?" Alex sneered at the Gryffindors, several of whom looked shocked. It was at that moment that Snape chose to show up and open the door to the potions class. He didn't say anything, but swept down the aisle. Draco dragged Alex to a seat, putting him next to him. Draco was seething. Alex patted his knee under the table, and smiled at him, trying to cheer him up as the class started.

"As I'm sure you all know, we have a new addition. Mr. Alexander Malfoy will be joining our class. However, this means that we will have an odd number of students this year. I will try to make rotating seating arrangements. For today, Mr. Zabini, you will be partnered with Mr. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom; you will be with Ms. Parkinson. Both Malfoys will be with Ms. Granger…" The list went on as their teacher wrote the potion they would be doing on the board with a spell. Alex and Draco shifted over so that Hermione could sit next to them. As they pulled out their stuff, Hermione began to speak to them.

"I'm sorry for Ron's behavior, Malfoy, he had no right to pry like that, especially since…" her voice trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Especially since it included my cousin's relatives beating him almost to death?" snarled Draco quietly, pulling out a cutting board and knife. Hermione winced. Alex sighed, and offered to go and get the ingredients that they would need from the cupboard with her as the potion today would require a lot of ingredients put in at specific times. As they were going through the ingredients, pulling something out occasionally, Alex decided to try and be nice to the girl; he wouldn't call her a friend.

"I apologize for the way that Draco acted, sometimes he is a little over protective," Alex smiled at her, "but he's a great guy. I'm lucky to have him for a family member."

"I find it hard to believe you, just because he's never been that nice to me, or any Gryffindor." Hermione ducked her head a little, blushing. Alex smiled at her.

"I've heard the stories about him and Harry Potter, it seems to me that they were mainly just playing with each other, friends in a weird, antagonizing way."

"Well," Hermione grabbed the last ingredient and turned around, "I'll try to give you both a chance, as long as he doesn't call me 'mudblood'." Alex chuckled.

"That is very possible, I will tell him." They approached the table and Alex smiled at his brother, who was glaring at the Gryffindor. "Alright, Draco, you have to behave decently, and not call anyone 'mudblood', and Hermione will see what she can do about being nice to you." Alex watched with twinkling eyes as Draco nodded and grabbed a root, dicing it with more than necessary vicious intent. Smiling at Hermione, Alex passed her a mortar and pestle to grind some leaves while he started to mix the potion its self. By the end of the class, they had a potion that Alex was sure would stand up to even Snape's inspection.

Alex left the classroom with Draco at his side, both speaking in low voices about what they expected to encounter in their transfiguration, also unfortunately (in Draco's opinion) with the Gryffindors. Although he was willing to give the house a chance to prove they served some purpose in the world, it didn't mean that he had to like them.

When they took their seats on the left hand side of the room in the front row, Harry was right across the aisle from Hermione Granger also in the aisle, sitting next to Ron Weasley. While the second person mentioned didn't seem to be very pleased about the seating arrangements, Hermione was happy to try to start up a conversation with Alex.

"So, what kind of schooling have you received up until now?" she asked, quite eager to hear about another magic school besides the ones she already knew of. Alex sighed.

"Well, for Defense we had a real idiot my first year, crazy, and in my second year, we had a narcissistic idiot, third year was decent, so was fourth year, but he was a little nuts as well, fifth year was the worst. Lady hated children. Why she got put in that position is beyond me. The rest of the teachers were great."

"Where was your school?"

"It was a private school in the north. No one's heard of it practically." Alex waved off the question just as Professor McGonagall came in and surveyed the class.

"I trust that everyone here knows the basics of transfiguration and did your homework over the summer?" All the students nodded, and pulled out the requested material, handing it to her as she came around the class. Alex handed her both his and Draco's when she came around, and she stopped in front of them.

"I understand that you come from another school?" She didn't sound rude, but her manner was the usual brisk 'keep moving' tone that he remembered.

"Yes Professor, I will let you know if there is anything I am unclear on so that I don't endanger any of my classmates." She nodded at him in approval, and moved back to the front of the room, placing papers on her desk as she moved to the black board and charming the chalk to write the instructions for transfiguring a needle into a key.

Halfway through thee lesson Weasley cried out and slapped a hand to his cheek, pulling a needle out of it.

"Professor! The new guy sent his needle at me!" Alex gaped at him, and then looked at his pin, which was in front of him, sitting there innocently.

"Mr. Malfoy! Detention and thirty points from Slytherin!"

"But Professor-"

"I will not hear it, Mr. Malfoy!" Then McGonagall turned her back on him and walked around the room, checking that the other students weren't having any trouble with their needles. Alex noticed a guilty looking Seamus Finnigan, but didn't want to draw any more attention to himself. He felt Draco seething beside him, and in a wave of his wand turned the needle into a mini replica of the key that he had caught to get to the sorcerer stone in his first year, doubting that anyone would recognize it.

At lunch, Alex sat with Draco, across from Crabbe and Goyle, eating his sandwich happily while his brother ranted under his breath about lying weasels. Draco focused his silver eyes on something that seemed to be moving towards them across the Great Hall, and so Alex turned around to find Ginny Weasley coming towards him with a piece of parchment in her hands. She blushed slightly when she noticed Alex looking at her and finally came to stand in front of him, holding the parchment in her hands loosely.

"Umm…would you mind setting up a time with me to go over some of my notes in potions? I haven't done that well with the homework or in the class, and I was hoping that you would be willing to help me a bit so that I don't make a potion explode over Luna again." Alex smiled at her and gestured to the bench, moving over so that she could sit with him. Looking very nervous, the girl sat down, and placed the parchment, her schedule on the table so that they could point out times when they were free. Draco never stopped glaring at his plate and murdering his food through Alex's entire conversation.

Alex and Ginny were done, and simply making polite conversation when they were interrupted by Ron, marching up to the table with his face as red as his hair and eyes blazing. Alex tried to shrink in his seat, and Ginny turned around in her place to see brother.

"Uh oh." Muttered Alex, and Draco looked up to turn his glare on the oncoming Weasley.

"What are you doing, Ginny? Why are you talking to the Malfoys?" his sneer was almost worthy of a Slytherin. Draco snarled back, but he was interrupted from defending his family name when Ginny stood up, and stepped over the bench to glare at her brother.

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" she asked him, stabbing him in the chest with a finger, "I have only been treated politely by Alex Malfoy, and he has even offered to help me with my potions and defense classes. And you are not in charge of me, Ronald Weasley." Ron was even redder, turning slightly purple, and reminding Alex slightly of Uncle Vernon. With a whimper he jumped up and bolted from the hall, running as fast as he could away from his past, and the images that were welling up in his mind.

Draco was worried about his brother. He had turned on Weasley, growling at him, and yelling at the boy, telling him that he had no right to come over and interrupt their conversations. Snape and McGonagall had shown up a few moments after Alex bolted, and subtracted fifty points from both houses. Snape had given the slightest nod to the doors, suggesting to Draco that he go and find Alex. Grabbing both his and his brother's bags he had walked as quickly from the hall as the Malfoy pride allowed. He had made it almost to the stairs when he heard a muffled sob coming from an alcove in the wall of the Entrance Hall. Walking to the alcove he knelt down slowly, peering at the curled up form of his little brother, rocking back and forth slightly, tears coming down his cheeks. Draco felt his heart melt and after placing the two bags against the wall, he gently reached out and let his fingers brush the top of Alex's head. Immediately Alex looked up, his bright green eyes glistening.

"What's wrong, Alex?" Alex shook his head, and so Draco scooted into the alcove, ignoring the tight squeeze, and pulled his brother into his lap. Alex immediately wrapped his arms around Draco, and Draco returned the hug as best he could, feeling awkward with the contact.

"They hate me now, I never realized how mean he could be. And I'm tricking them, I'm lying-" Alex sobbed quietly, and Draco tightened his grip on the slight figure.

"You aren't doing anything wrong. You haven't done anything wrong, they were the ones that left you with those muggles, they are the ones who didn't listen to you. While Mud-Granger may have some redeeming qualities, I just can't see any in Weasley." Alex looked up at him with his eyes that could make anyone's heart melt.

"You're okay with me being friends with Hermione and Ginny?" his voice was so hopeful, Draco couldn't do anything but nod his head, and swear to his self that he would write to their father about this and ask if there was anything that could be done. Perhaps they could all meet for a family dinner one of the upcoming Hogsmeade weekends.

Alex smiled up at him.

"Thanks, Bro."

"Don't call me that, we're supposed to be cousins, remember?" Draco smiled to show that he was just teasing the other boy. Alex smiled back.

"But it's a term of endearment, and for all they know, I'm just calling you that because I love you, and you're my favorite relative." He paused. When he next spoke his voice was quiet. "Were we really that mean to you when I didn't know you?"

"Well, you were mean, but I think that the two of us looked at it more like it was a sport, teasing if you will, while Weasley seemed to take every insult we traded like a personal offense."

"So you aren't mad for the things we did?"

"No, I'm not. But, I have an idea if you want to make up for it." Draco grinned at Alex, who turned his head to look at him intently.

"What?"

"Try out for the Quidditch team. I can take up chaser, I think I'm pretty good, and you can take seeker, there's no one better than you out there, you know." Alex started to protest, but Draco shook his head. "No arguments, I'll sign you up for tryouts over the weekend. Now up, we've got Defense Against the Dark Arts now with the Hufflepuffs."

"I forgot to pay attention at the opening feast, who's the new teacher?' asked Alex as they headed up the stairs quickly to get to the classroom.

"Mad-eye Moody again." Alex felt a shiver go up his spine and whispered to his brother as they came up to the top of the staircase and turned down the corridor.

"He can see through glamours, we have my scar under a glamour." Draco's face went even paler than usual, and he turned to Alex, and pulled his bangs out of the ponytail they were in, arranging them to cover the scar to the right of the center of Alex's forehead, the thing that would let every teacher and student in Hogwarts know that he was Harry Potter. Ten pulling him to the classroom, they made it in time to sit down before the teacher entered the room from a side doorway.

"Alright, class. We will be going over what it was that the incompetent woman who was here last year taught you, so I'm going to list some topics, and I just want a yes or a no to if you covered them." Moody was just as Alex remembered from seeing him around Grimmauld Place. His magic eye was swirling around, examining every student. His wooden leg made a dull thump when it hit the ground, and the scars on his face made him seem even more intimidating than he was in actuality. As he went down his list he got a string of 'no's coming from the whole class. "Did that woman teach you anything?"

"No, sir,' said Zacharias Smith, "All that we covered with her was theoretical, she always was saying that we would never be attacked by a dark wizard." Moody laughed at that, a harsh, grating sound.

"Well, there are dark wizards, and they are all around, they merely wait for their master to make the first move. The Death Eaters are the worst; they follow what the Dark Lord says without a thought. Vicious lot that hide within our society every day. They are the ones that killed Harry Potter, according to the investigation of the ruins of his home." His magic eye turned towards Alex as the Hufflepuffs, (especially those that knew Harry) got a bit teary eyed, and he frowned at him. "I've never seen you around here before. Did you transfer here, lad?"

"Yes sir," Alex decided it was best to be polite to the wizard, and gave a smile, worrying silently if his bangs could cover his scar from that magic eye. "I am a part of the Malfoy family, and they took me in over the summer. Draco suggested that I join him at Hogwarts this year." Moody frowned at him and looked at him closely, stumping over to him.

"I didn't think that Malfoy had any other family. As far as I know, they traditionally only have one child." Alex smiled at him, keeping the false cheer in his face.

"My mother was Mr. Malfoy's sister, she got married without permission of the head of the family at the time, although it was to another pureblood, but when she and my father died my father's sister and her husband took me in, and the accommodations were less than welcoming."

"What, they wouldn't give you your allowance on time?" growled the ex-auror.

"Actually, they sent him to the hospital, and he was on bed-rest for several weeks in which we weren't sure he was going to make it. Now, Professor, would you kindly not pry into our personal life and teach the class?" Draco had stood up, standing to his full height, which was as tall as Moody himself, looking every inch the imperious Malfoy. Moody sniffed, and walked back to the front of the room, and started to lecture about basic shield spell, and their usefulness in a situation. Alex could feel a few stares on him, and felt Draco squeeze his hand under the table. After the class was over, Alex was packing his bag to go to Charms with the Ravenclaws when Professor Moody called him back in.

"I apologize for intruding on your life earlier with my questions." He said as if each word were being forced from his mouth, which they probably were, considering he was now apologizing to a Malfoy, and Alex was sure that it was only the fact that he was a teacher and that the other students would tell on him if he didn't do anything. Smiling slightly, Alex nodded, accepting the apology. When he looked up again, both of Moody's eyes were pinned on him. Knowing what it was he possibly saw, Alex grabbed his bag, and walked as quickly as possible without actually running.

"Malfoy! Wait a moment-" but Alex had shut the door behind him, and kept up his pace as he went through the halls to his next class. When he got there, Draco gestured him up to the seat next to him. Grinning thankfully, Alex sat next to him, and immersed himself in his notes, taking detailed descriptions on how to charm a door to ask anyone who came by a question. Why they were covering that subject, he had no idea, but he took notes on it anyways, it was a welcome distraction. Draco kept an eye on him, but he ignored him, focusing all his attention on the spell.

That afternoon, Professor Snape, who found him in the common room after his classes, doing his homework, approached him.

"You are to serve your detention tonight with Professor Moody. He apparently would like help sorting the homework that he received form his classes." Said the man, glaring down at them. "I am curious however, as to how you got a detention on the first day of school, it would be a record, even for you, Alex."

"I didn't do anything, I just didn't want to get the guy who actually sent his needle flying in trouble with the teacher." Grumbled Alex, putting his Defense away to start on his Transfiguration.

"Did something happen after class, Alex?" asked Draco while Snape was still standing there. The man frowned.

"Which class?"

"Defense. During the class Moody started in on Alex, and he got a bit more out of me than he should have," Draco looked a little embarrassed at how he had snapped at the teacher, "but then after class he called Alex up to apologize, I expect, but when he got to charms, he barely even reacted, just took notes, so I know that something happened, but he wont tell me what." Alex sighed, now he had _both_ of them after him.

"I think he saw through the glamour we put on my scar." He muttered, looking at the floor. Snape grew pale, and nodded at him.

"I will escort you to your detention then, and request you for any other detentions that you receive so that the two of you are not stuck together too often." Alex nodded. That evening, after a dinner in which he was uncomfortably aware of all the stares he was receiving, including one from Moody, all the while keeping his 'Slytherin Mask' in place, he and Snape made their way to the Defense classroom to meet Moody there. Alex was sure that Moody would be waiting for him, and was glad that Snape was with him.

Alex knocked on the door nervously, glancing up at his head of house once to see the man staring straight ahead before turning back to the door with a firmed resolve to go through with this.

When Moody opened the door he seemed surprised to see Snape standing there beside him.

"Severus, what are you doing here? Accompanying a student to their detention is highly unlike you." Snape sneered in return to the growl.

"I was made aware that you upset my student earlier and his detention happened to coincide with my visit to you to ask that you retain some restraint in your classes, at least with the members of my house."

"If you would have noticed, I apologized to the boy already, and now if you don't mind, he has a detention with me now." Snape gave the man a glare that promised a painful death to the man. Feeling like there should be background music in which a death march was playing, Alex stepped into the office, and heard the door click shut behind him. Standing still, he felt Moody move around him to stand in front of his desk, his wand pointed at Alex.

"So, that's an interesting scar that you have on your head, boy. Where'd you get it?" Alex felt like he was trapped, and he could feel himself start to panic, so he pulled his mask in tight, and pulled up his occlumency walls, or what walls he had, even he would admit that they wouldn't stand up to a harsh attack to them.

"You seem to have already come to a conclusion, Professor, so why don't you tell me. It would save a lot of time, and I can just tell you if you're wrong straight off." Alex tried to not let any emotion into his voice, and stared at the man in front of him.

"I would say that you were Harry Potter, but the world has come to the conclusion that he's dead. Unless the Dark Lord managed to brainwash you, and turn you into a spy for him. Tell me," he gestured to Alex in general, "How'd you change your hair? Those eyes I would recognize anywhere, but how did you change your appearance? Your basic features have changed."

"I wont tell you that, sir, but this is what I look like, I have done nothing intentionally to change my appearance. Have you told anyone else?" He had the fear that the man might have told someone, but he had to trust Moody's old paranoia to save him.

"No, I have not. They would call me crazy, and I wouldn't be allowed to stay here. Claiming that Harry Potter is alive." He stared at Alex hard for a moment or two in silence. "Are you really Harry? Have they brainwashed you? What happened?"

"Are you going to tell anyone? This must never get out."

"Of course I'll tell them, the whole Order needs to know that you are alive. You are Harry, aren't you?" His voice was strangely hopeful, and Alex felt sad. He couldn't tell. He bowed his head in defeat.

"They haven't done anything to me besides save me." His voice was quiet, almost a whisper as he spoke.

"But the blood wards-"

"They allow those that share blood with me through, and anyone else as long as they don't mean me any harm."

"So they kidnapped you? They didn't mean any harm to come to you, but there's no way that you could-"

"That I could what?" Alex's eyes flashed with anger, and for a moment they actually seemed to glow Avada Kedavra green, "join with my family against the side that only ignored what my relatives were doing to me? Actually have a chance to choose which side I wanted to be on?"

"You're a light wizard, Harry. You can't change that."

"Oh really? Well, I hate to tell you this, but you never gave me a chance to choose which side I wanted to be on, all that any of you ever cared about was me killing Voldemort. I could care less about you all at the moment. I am happy where I am, and if you tell the Order," Alex's voice was a low growl that filled the room and made goosebumps run up and down Moody's arms, "if you tell them about me, I will tell Voldemort where the Order's headquarters is. I will let him into Hogwarts. I will take my revenge on you. At the moment we have an equilibrium, you let me stay here, don't tell anyone, and you all live. Simple."

"Don't you threaten me-"

"I'm not threatening you, I am telling you that if we both go our separate ways, things will be peaceful for a time. And I will refrain from harming any of the Order while I am at Hogwarts."

"But what if it is for the greater good that they know you are here?" Moody seemed like he was clutching straws, and Alex clamped down on his instincts that were telling him to run away from the danger this man posed to him.

"You will tell no one, not even Dumbledore. He meddled too much in my life. If you want to talk about it with anyone though, feel free to talk to Snape, he has to know what's happening on both sides. Now, if you will excuse me, Professor, I have to go back to my common room so that I can finish my homework. Goodnight." When he left the room, his robes swirled around him in a way that would have made Snape proud. Instead of going to the common room like he had told Moody, he went to Snape's quarters and knocked on the door. The door was pulled open rather hurriedly, and he was pulled inside.

"What happened?" the man hissed, his face several inches from Alex's. Alex smiled at him, and gestured towards the two armchairs that were facing the fire. After swiveling them so that they faced each other, Alex told the man all that had happened that evening while he was in Moody's office.

"And on top of that, now that he knows I have to make sure that I don't give him cause to think that I'm a spy and shoot me." Alex pulled his knees up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. "I miss Mom and Dad."

"I could call them and have them come over through the Floo, if you would like."

"You would do that? Could Draco be here too? I don't think he'd want to miss a chance to say hello." Snape sighed mentally. Since he had been around this boy he had found himself more and more giving in to the demands, and acting like an actual member of the Malfoy family, taking care of the two boys.

"Yes, I would do that, Mr. Malfoy. I will call Lucius and then go to get Draco so that he does not get caught by the Prefects that are wandering about, although I doubt that any would dare to come down here."

"Hermione would."

"Wonderful." He muttered, throwing a handful of the powder into the fire and sticking his head through to yell at the startled house-elf on the other end to get Lucius and Narcissa, and to tell them to come immediately, and that the password was 'Aconite'. Pulling his head back through the fire place, he stood up and walked out of the rooms to go and retrieve Draco, whom he was sure was still up and sitting in the common room, waiting for his brother.

Only a few minutes after he had left, Alex was surprised to see Lucius and Narcissa stumble out of the fireplace, both wearing robes over their sleeping clothes.

"Alex? Are you alright?" asked Narcissa, coming forward, and was met halfway by Alex throwing himself into her arms for a hug. Both looked shocked, but Narcissa sat down in the chair Severus had vacated, and pulled the boy into her lap. Lucius knelt in front of them, and stroked his second son's hair. Before he could get anything from the boy, the door opened to admit Draco and Severus. Draco stood there in shock for a moment before coming forward slowly to accept an embrace from his father.

"Why were we called here in the middle of the night, Severus?" asked the blonde man, looking at his long time friend. Severus let no emotion slip through as he told them what Alex had told him. Lucius had had to sit down when he came to the part of Moody knowing who Alex was.

"It was good that you called us, Severus. Are we sure that he wont tell the Order?"

"Yes, he knows what will happen if he tell anyone." Said Alex, lifting his head and speaking for the first time since his parents had arrived.

"And what would that be?" Narcissa turned Alex's face to look at her as she asked the question.

"Tell Voldemort where the Order's headquarters is, since I do own it since Sirius died and he left me as his heir, and then lead Voldemort straight through the wards around Hogwarts and into the castle its self. I also plan on pranking the entire school, and blaming it all on Peeves. I'm sure he won't mind the reputation. And who would suspect a Slytherin of painting the potions classroom red and gold?" Alex had a smirk on his face, and the sheer shock of seeing this side of the boy made everyone pause for a moment.

"I will make sure to blame Gryffindor when that happens, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure they've done something else to deserve my taking points form them." Snape looked at him, a faint glimmer of amusement in his eyes. Lucius chuckled slightly, and Narcissa kissed Alex on the forehead.

"I'm sure the Dark Lord will be eager for the Order to find out your identity now that you have those intentions." Said Lucius, an evil gleam in his eyes.

"No fair telling him, he'll make someone drop a hint. And the best joke is that Harry Potter actually joined the Dark side, or at least turned slightly gray." Alex smiled at them, and Draco grinned.

"I know something Weasley doesn't." Alex grinned at him, and contented himself to sit on Narcissa's lap, letting her run her fingers through his hair, and letting the voices of the people he loved the most wash over him, lulling him into a deep sleep. The feelings of family, and the warmth of the fire something that he was sure that he would never forget.

**A/N: Here's a long chapter, I got distracted. Sorry, all. There's a little button that says 'Review'. Please? Please?**


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own none of this besides the story line with Lucius and Harry, JK Rowling is the genius that came up with the characters. I just play with them.

Chapter 7

Alex was nervous the next morning at breakfast, he could feel Moody watching him, but he couldn't see any difference in the behaviors of the other teachers. Absentmindedly he piled two pieces of bacon, a scoop of scrambled eggs, a squirt of hot sauce, and a few slices of the potatoes that were on the table all on a piece of buttered toast, and bit into it. His and Draco's parents had left that morning, and he was feeling better, but he was nervous that Moody would tell someone, although it didn't show. He was pulled out of his musings when he heard Draco's voice.

"That really is disgusting, you know." His nose was scrunched up, and he was looking at Alex's breakfast with scorn.

"We' I fink it goo'." Alex mumbled through a full mouth. Draco placed his head in his hands, and across the table Blaise Zabini chuckled slightly.

"None of us can understand you when you talk through your food, Alex. Hasn't Draco taught you table manners?" Alex glared at the dark haired boy, and finished chewing before swallowing.

"He has, but I happen to think that although he eats his food separately and with a fork and knife, he puts way too much syrup and sugar on his food." Was Alex's reply, and he defiantly took another bite of his choice of breakfast foods all packed into one. The Slytherin table would have laughed if it wouldn't have made the whole school hex them in thinking that they had put poison or something in the food. Alex was like a breath of fresh air in the house, someone who didn't seem to worry about his reputation and had fun. The times were changing. As Alex and Draco descended the stairs and went outside to their first class of the day, long Herbology with Ravenclaw, Alex smiled up at the clear sky, and took in a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the wind pulling at his hair. Draco put on his 'Malfoy Heir' face, and Alex grinned, doing a comedic imitation behind him, which included his nose in the air. Terry Boot snorted as he saw them coming, and Draco turned around to glare at Alex, who merely shrugged, and looked innocent. When Draco turned back around he grinned at the Ravenclaw and winked.

"Today you will all need to have your…" The rest of the lesson went well, with no accidents and everyone following the instructions and staying away from any dangerous part of the plant they were pruning. Unfortunately the pruning took a bit of time because the plants wiggled, and had inch-long thorns.

Lunch was again a bit stressful, but Alex was starting to believe that Moody might not tell anyone about him. After lunch though, he had Defense and he was determined to not have a panic attack in the middle of the lesson.

This class they were to actually cast the shields that they had learned about the previous class, and to see which curses they would stand up to. Needless to say, several students were sent to Madame Pomfrey with minor hexes, a few students had to be de-transfigured as well. At the end of the lesson, Alex let out a sigh of relief and decided that maybe Moody wouldn't tell, and he could relax.

Severus Snape was having a bad evening, well, any evening in which he was grading the essays of his incompetent students was a bad evening, and the fact that he had not had the time to work on the potion that he had simmering in his rooms did nothing to improve his mood. Someone banging on his door after dinner when he finally had finished aforementioned essays and was about to spend the rest of his evening trying to perfect the potion he was experimenting on did nothing to improve his attitude. So when he yanked the door open it was with a snarl.

"What do you want?" Snape was taken aback to see none other that Mad-Eye Moody standing outside his chambers, but like a true Slytherin, he didn't show the surprise he felt.

"May I come in, Snape?" asked the scarred man. Feeling as if the world was about to implode because surely the man wouldn't be decent to him unless there was an imminent end to the world, Severus stepped aside, allowing the other man to walk past him into the room.

"What brings you to my office at this time of night, Moody?" Severus was trying to be civil, he really was, but the man always grated on his nerves, accusing him of being a Death Eater (which he was) and a spy for the Dark side (which he was). The man just always annoyed him, and now was no exception.

"I was wondering if it was true, about the new Malfoy brat being Harry Potter." Moody had a scowl on his face, and was giving Severus a look that clearly said that if he had the intention of telling him otherwise he would find himself hexed.

"Surely would have decided for yourself. You caused him enough stress to turn his hair white, probably."

"Then it's true. But why is he pretending to be a Malfoy? Why be with Dark wizards? Do you know how the Dark Lord managed to brainwash him?" Moody seemed to be clutching at any possible alternative than the real answer; Harry had gone over.

"The Dark Lord did nothing!" snapped Snape "The boy was dying when we found him, you Light wizards didn't even care to check on him, or listen to him not wanting to go back to his insufferable relatives home. When we arrived it was a matter of whether he would die or not. You did _nothing_ for him. He lost his godfather, and you all just sent him away, pushing him to the side so that you wouldn't have to deal with him. You ask what happened? He was taken in by his true family, and they have been doing a better job of raising him than those pathetic Muggles did." Snape was seething, he had seen the damage to the boy, and he had taken it as a personal offense that the Order had never expressed a care in how he was raised. They had just left him there, and had hoped that all would be well. Severus had heard that the boy didn't want to return on holidays, and had heard the other members of the Order ignore him.

"So the boy is Dark?"

"No, he is just having the chance to finally choose which side he is on."

"Surely I can tell someone. Lupin would be overjoyed to have the boy back."

"It is up to Alex whether he does anything, and whether he tells anyone."

"So until he tells anyone, I can only talk to you?" Moody seemed repulsed at the very idea off being even nice enough to Snape to complain about the unfairness of the situation.

"You could talk to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy about their son. It is their responsibility to make sure he does well in school." Snape was tired of this conversation already, and the potion in his office was on the forefront of his mind.

"Why would I associate with-"

"If you simply came here to insult my acquaintances, then you might as well leave, and I would take Mr. Malfoy's threat seriously, if I were you. He doesn't take betrayal very well." With that, he pointed to the door, leaving no room for argument, and Moody left the room with a huff. Severus decided that Alex didn't need to be told about this conversation and so he retreated to his lab and spent several hours trying to make the potion he was working on balanced so that it wouldn't explode.

The next evening at dinner, Alex was not feeling as many eyes on him as he had been all day and yesterday, but there were still a few whispers going around. So much for not being noticed. However, the more he reflected, the more it seemed unlikely that he wouldn't be noticed, being a Malfoy and all. Seeing Ginny smile at him across the hall he stood up and walked out of the hall with his bag, and went up to the library.

Ginny came in a few minutes after he had chosen a table at the back to sit at, chosen so that he could see the door from his chair. She smiled at him and sat down across the table from him, then pulled out her potions homework.

"I was wondering if you could explain this to me, I never know why the ingredients are supposed to work, and that is usually in the essays. Are you okay explaining that?" Alex nodded at her, and pointed to the list of ingredients for the potion her essay was about.

"This is all supposed to balance out, with the properties of the wormwood balancing out the Aconite, and the powdered unicorn hooves making sure that the moonstone doesn't react badly with the hemlock. The potion has a negative effect, but is still balanced." Alex watched through his explanation as Ginny's eyes glazed over, and she seemed to tune out.

"Riiiiight. Alex, that made no sense to me whatsoever." Alex sighed and thought for a moment.

"How about I write up a list of different ingredients that are common in potions, and their effects, and have them in columns that are labeled 'positive' and 'negative' so that you can easily sort out which ingredients balance out each other and why?" Ginny grinned at him broadly.

"That would help a lot. Snape just expects us to know what all these things do, and I just don't know why." Alex smiled at her.

"_Professor_ Snape, Miss Weasley." Ginny scowled at him, but he kept smiling so that she would know he was joking. Sighing, she pulled out a paper, and held it out to him. Alex took it and raised an eyebrow.

"My Defense essay, I just don't think it's long enough. What can I add to it, do you think?" Alex skimmed over the essay on Vampires and ways to defend against one that was attacking you. Alex frowned, she had gone into the usual, a spell to create artificial light, although that would only slow it down, garlic to ward them off to begin with, a stake in the heart, and cutting off their head. Looking up at her he raised an eyebrow.

"Did you only read your text book?" Ginny blushed and Alex sighed before putting the paper down, standing up, and wandering into the high shelves of books. Ginny looked slightly puzzled and a little let down before he came back a moment later with a thin, dusty book in his hands, and set it down in front of her. "Here's a pretty good text, I think the lady who wrote this was a vampire herself, but it has a lot of ways to ward off a vampire that most people wouldn't think of. Read that. I can tell you, though, that they are not too fond of running water on some accounts." Alex picked up his bag and nodded to her, smiling, promising to see her the next evening before dinner and that if she couldn't find anything in that book she could find him before her class and he would help.

Alex walked down to the dungeons, feeling tired, and so he wasn't paying as much attention to his surroundings as he should have, and so when Moody stepped out of the shadows right next to the wall that led to the Slytherin common room, he jumped, and pulled out his wand. Moody glared at him, and Alex glared back, though with less intensity.

"Mr. Malfoy, I have come to a conclusion." Alex snorted.

"Riiiight." Moody glared at him and continued speaking.

"You are a light wizard, and so should be with other light wizards as such. I will not allow you to remain with the Malfoys, or under the Dark Lord's control any longer. I am going to tell the headmaster." Alex stared at him.

"Why the bloody hell are you telling me?"

"Because I believe that the Harry I knew is still in there, but if it isn't you will hex me now, and I can take you in anyways. Either way, the Headmaster will know." Moody looked at him for a moment before stumping past him and along the corridor, intent on going to the headmaster's office.

Growling, Alex spat out the password, and dashed through the opening, and through the common room, ignoring Draco's shouts to him. When he got to the room, he pulled out a piece of parchment, and hurriedly scrawled a note on it, then grabbed an envelope, addressed that, and then tore open his trunk, yanking his broom out of it, and then hurtling back through the common room, ignoring his friends, and up the passageways, taking shortcuts, and running at full speed until he got to a level that had windows. Once he could see the window, he jumped on his broom, and flew out the open window, flying as fast as he could to where he knew the headmaster's office's window to be.

He arrived just in time to see Moody stump into the office, his scowl firmly in place. Alex maneuvered his broom so that he was hovering outside the window on the far side of the room, meaning that Moody had a clear view of him once he looked up. Alex waited for the time when he could make his move, glaring through the glass.

Moody stood facing the headmaster's desk, his magical eye roaming around the room as it usually did. The gray haired man smiled at the ex-auror.

"What can I do for you Alastor?" Moody gave a 'humph', completely convinced that he was going to tell the headmaster that Alex Malfoy was in fact Harry Potter.

"Albus, it's about that boy, Alex Malfoy."

"Yes, he is quite bright, isn't he? I hear that his family situation was not that excellent, but that he was taken out of that situation by his aunt and uncle over the summer. What about him? Oh, lemon drop?" Moody glared at the offered sweet, and Albus shrugged before popping the candy into his mouth and smiling happily.

"It's just that, I think that-" Moody paused for a moment, his magical eye focused on the glass window. He managed to keep the horror out of his face as he saw Alexander Malfoy hovering outside of the window, pressing an envelope and a piece of parchment to the glass. Focusing a moment he could make out the writing on the envelope.

'_**Voldemort'**_ was written on it, and then, looking at the parchment, he felt his stomach drop.

'_**Dear Voldemort,**_

_**The Order of the Phoenix is based at 12 Grimmauld Place. The secret keeper is Dumbledore, but if you manage to capture Dumbledore, or a piece of paper on which he has written the address, you will be able to get in. I wish you are well, and hope you have the best of luck in this new mission.**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_**Harry James Potter, also known as Alexander Malfoy**_

Albus was looking at him curiously because he had stopped. Stuttering slightly he tried to continue.

"It's just that Malfoy, he-" Moody stopped again; the blasted boy was folding the parchment into the envelope with great, exaggerated gestures. "He is a, a ummm…" The broom began to drift away from the window slowly, in the direction of the Owlery.

"He is what, Alastor? Are you alright?" Dumbledore looked worried and confused at the usually well-put together man's sudden lack of coherency.

"It's just, he is very bright, I was only wondering about some things that have been said about his past." Outside the window that horrible, evil, scheming boy was grinning and nodding his head, pleased.

"Oh, well, if there are students gossiping about his past, then send them to me, I will set them straight on that account. Is that all?" Moody nodded jerkily and hurried out of the office and down the stairs. He walked into the Entrance Hall some minutes later and came face to face with a smirking Alex, leaning against the wall, his broom propped up beside him.

"You are one evil, scheming, rotten-" Alex interrupted Moody at that point, standing up from his relaxed position.

"I may be that, I may not be what you remember, or what you expected, but I should have the chance to choose, and now that I have chosen, I will fight tooth and nail to keep my place here."

Moody glared at him, and as Alex began to walk away, he growled at the retreating back.

"I'll be watching you, boy." Alex grinned at him over his shoulder.

"I'm counting on it."


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any characters, nor do I make any profit. Bunnies and mushrooms, Nee-san, bunnies and mushrooms.

Chapter 8

Draco Malfoy was not one to show uncalled for bursts of emotion, nor was he one to particularly car what other people did. However, he did care about his brother, and when said brother went racing through the common room, disappeared into the dorms, and then was off again, with a broom and a piece of parchment, even he would make an exception. So it came to be that when Alex came back through the entrance to the Slytherin common room, Draco was sitting there waiting in a chair that he had dragged from its place by the fire to where he kept his silent vigil.

"_Where_ have you been?" Alex froze in the doorway, broom in hand, his eyes comically wide at the sight of his older brother sitting in front of him, eyes narrowed, voice menacingly calm.

"Uhhh…Flying practice?"

"I happen to know that the Hufflepuffs have the field for the day, meaning that they wouldn't have let you near it. So, I ask again, where have you been?" Apparently the other Slytherins had never seen this side of their leader before, and so most of them were staring openly, watching curiously, while the occasional few snickered at the predicament Alex seemed to have gotten himself into.

"Can we talk about this somewhere private?" Alex looked at his brother hopefully, praying that he would listen to him. Draco seemed to weigh the options for a moment before nodding and standing up, then leading the way to their dorm room. Alex sighed quietly before hurrying after his brother, nodding at Vince and Greg as he passed them before disappearing form view. As soon as they were safely within the dorms, Draco sent a silencing spell at the door before turning to his brother, glaring still.

"Do I need to give you a lecture about what you can and can't do in your position? If Moody were to suddenly decide that you should be back in the control of Dumbledore, what would you do? So please, give me a good explanation about where you were or I _will _write to Mom and Dad about this." Alex looked at him, his eyes swimming with unshed tears, but he blinked them away. Draco almost reached out and wrapped the smaller boy in a hug, but he resisted the urge, crossing his arms in front of his chest instead.

"Moody told me that he was going to tell the Headmaster who I really was. I panicked, and came here, and wrote a quick note to Voldemort" Draco winced "telling him where the Order of the Phoenix is stationed for the most part. I flew outside of the Headmaster's window, and showed him the letter, he didn't tell Dumbledore, but I figure he'll watch me, and if I pose a threat he'll turn me in, or something. I just didn't want him to tell Dumbledore, and get taken away from you all." Draco couldn't resist anymore, and wrapped Alex in a hug, pulling him against him.

"I'm, sorry I was so upset, but I was worried about you, you know? I don't want anything to happen to you." Draco smiled as he felt his brother return the hug. "How about I write to Mom and Dad, see what they can do? And in the mean time, how about we have you try out for the Slytherin House team? You're still the best, you know." Alex chuckled, but then drew back slightly.

"What about you? What will you do if I take your place on the Quidditch team?" Draco grinned at him good-naturedly.

"I've been wanting to try out being a Chaser for a while. Think I could do it?" Alex grinned at him, and their conversation drifted on to the topic of Quidditch before they headed back down to the common room to find the team captain to ask him if he wouldn't mind Draco trying out for a different spot, and Alex trying out to take his spot as Seeker.

--

_Dear Mother and Father,_

_It has come to my attention that Professor Moody made an attempt to turn in my favorite cousin. Fortunately, that attempt was diverted, but I believe that it may be wise for you to take a look into the situation to prevent other such occurrences. I understand that it is not my place to interfere, so I will attempt to simply keep Alex from accidentally falling off a tower while he tries to save a kitten. Or, more likely, trying to save some bloodthirsty beast he thinks still deserves to live after he has seen it kill previously mentioned kitten. I hope you are well._

_Sincerely,_

_Draco_

--

_Dear Alastor Moody,_

_It has come to our attention that it would be wise for us to all meet. Perhaps you would come over. We will have the floo network open for fifteen minutes at noon on Sunday. Please come and visit. There will be no need to reply._

_Sincerely, _

_Lucius Malfoy_

Moody stared down at the letter that had been brought to him by an owl several minutes ago. None of the other teachers at the Head Table seemed to have noticed that he was staring at the letter, or that his behavior wasn't normal. Only Draco Malfoy at the Slytherin table was looking at him, and he could see a slight smug smile flit across his face before his face was wiped blank with his Malfoy mask, and he turned away to speak with Gregory Goyle.

Standing up from the table, he made his way out of the hall through the door behind the Head Table. In his head, thoughts about manipulative Malfoys and stubborn brats swirled together. His black mood must have shown, because the few stray students he passed all moved out of his way, pressing themselves against the walls as he stumped all the way to his classroom. He slammed open the door, ignoring the first years standing outside, and made his way to the front. Feeling like taking his mood out on something, he turned to the students who were stumbling in. First year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. Wonderful.

"I want all of you to take out your books, and read chapters five and six, then I want you to start a four foot essay on how to tell the difference between a regular wolf, a werewolf, and a regular dog. Then I want you to explain how to fend off a werewolf, how to incapacitate one, and how to take preventative measures to insure that you don't come across one to begin with. It will be your homework tonight as well, so you might as well get started. The instructions are on the board." Slashing his wand, the instructions appeared on the board, and he sat down behind his desk, the magical eye roving around the room, making sure that everyone was working.

Damn. He really wanted a bottle of Firewhiskey at the moment.

--

Alex was protesting being dragged down to thee Quidditch pitch by Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. He really didn't want to try out to be on the Slytherin team. He was paranoid that someone would recognize his flying style, and that would be bad. He tried to convince the two larger Slytherins to let go of his arms, and let him go.

"Really, I might not be any good as seeker, ever considered that? What if I make a complete fool of myself? It wouldn't look good if the Slytherins were seen with a bumbling idiot like me, so how about you just loosen your grip a little bit and let me-"

"Sorry, Alex. Draco says that you are to be taken to the pitch, and he says that you are a wonderful flyer, and we believe him. You might as well just stop struggling." Goyle said this while looking ahead at Draco's back as the blonde boy led them to the pitch.

"And anyways," said Crabbe, smiling at him in what he must have thought was a charming fashion, "we were the ones who suggested that you join the team, and Draco thought that it was a wonderful idea. Gives you exercise, and it gives you something to do with your time besides mope around the common room."

Alex sighed. There was apparently no way he was getting out of this. Crabbe and Goyle might look like dumb bodyguards, and sometimes he had to agree with that opinion of them, but when they put their minds to something, it was impossible to stop them. It was after classes, and it was unlikely that anyone would stop them, there was an hour and a half until dinner after all. They stepped outside and passed Ginny, as she was coming back inside, chatting with Luna Lovegood, both coming back from Care of Magical Creatures.

"Ginny! Save me!" The red head looked up in surprise and smiled at him, ignoring the brief glare that Draco shot her as he kept moving. Ginny began to follow them, Luna following as well, a slightly dazed expression on her face.

"And where are you being dragged off to, Alex?"

"They're trying to make me try out for the Quidditch team!"

"Well, I'm sure that you'll be great. You have great balance, no matter how many times Neville bumps in to you, you never fall over." Goyle snorted at this, and Alex looked up at his captors with a baleful glare, they were both smiling.

"You're not supposed to take the enemy's side, you're supposed to take mine!"

"But I think that you would be a wonderful seeker, I'm trying out for Gryffindor tomorrow, I hope that I'll get either chaser or seeker. I think that Ron will be the keeper. He's the new captain too."

"Just what I need, more interaction with Gryffindors." Alex gave an overly dramatic sigh, and hung his head. "Whatever shall I do? You are too much for a poor old man like me to handle. I'll just have to let you find the snitch on your own."

Ginny laughed at him and shook her head, making her red hair reflect the light from the sun.

"Of course. But what would happen if we both just sat on our brooms, waiting for the other to find the snitch?" They were at the field now, and Ginny slowed down to head to the stands so that she could watch the tryout.

"Why, the game would go on forever, and they would all be at our mercy!" Ginny's laughter followed him out as he was dragged onto the grass, and led to where the rest of the team was waiting for them. Crabbe and Goyle both released his arms when they were close enough, and Alex stood in front of them all.

"If you pass, I will take the place of Chaser on the team, as we need one," began Draco imperiously, "and if you shall fail, we will be holding formal tryouts for a new chaser, is that clear?" Alex nodded, wondering if he should just fail the tryout deliberately. Then he saw the hope in his brother's face, and he decided that he might as well try. Who new? Maybe with this new body he'd be really, really awkward on a broom? Holding out his hand, he took the broom that was offered to him.

"Alright. What do I have to do?"

Draco grinned at him victoriously.

"We're going to unleash the snitch, and then you have to get on your broom and find it."

'_Well, that shouldn't be so hard'_ he thought in his head before he heard the next words out of his brother's mouth.

"In five minutes."

Alex's eyes widened and he stared at him for a moment in astonishment.

"That's impossible! It take longer than that in a game!"

"Yes, well, we're all going to be here on the ground, and there will be no distractions that can make you lose your focus, so you should be able to do it. After you've done this, you have to find the snitch in seven minutes, while we have Crabbe and Goyle here batting bludgers at you, for an extra challenge."

Alex gaped at him, an expression that his father would have scolded him for, and then the next thing he knew, the snitch had been released, and the entire team was smirking at him.

"Time's ticking, Alex." Shooting one last glare over his shoulder, Alex shot into the air, clinging tightly to his broom as he circled the pitch. He noticed that the Quidditch team had moved to one side of the field, and he could see that all of their faces were upturned, looking at him intently. Alex snorted softly. Looking around the pitch he didn't see any sign of the snitch. Finally his eyes landed on the stands.

Sitting in the Gryffindor section were Ginny and Luna, he could see both of them watching him quietly. He looked away, and watched the pitch intently for another minute before he saw something out of the corner of his eye. The snitch was floating above the stands, slightly behind the two girls. Immediately, he turned his broom around, and sped as fast as he could toward the snitch. Everything dropped away except for that tiny golden ball, and the wind rushing past him. He took a sharp turn as the snitch zoomed away, and he followed it as it flew towards the other end off the field. Putting on another burst of speed he lunged for it, and over balanced, falling off of his broom, and plummeting to the ground twenty feet below. He closed his eyes, and waited for the impact, but it never came. He opened his eyes, and saw his brother standing fifty feet away, his wand extended, his forehead scrunched in concentration as he concentrated on lowering Alex to the ground gently.

Alex's feet touched the ground, and he felt the spell lift. Seconds later, he was being hugged by his brother, who was holding him tightly. Abruptly, the hug ended, and he was checked for any injuries., and then the blonde's face darkened, and he started laying into Alex.

"What were you thinking? You could have been hurt! If I hadn't had my wand with me, you could have been seriously injured! And what was that? Jumping off your broom? Did you even catch that snitch?" Draco looked him over, and Alex grinned, holding out his right hand, and dropping the little ball into Draco's grasp. He could see the other team members standing just behind Draco, grinning at him.

"Four minutes and twenty seconds. Impressive time." Goyle held out his hand, and Alex shook it. "Ready for the next round?"

Alex spent the next six minutes and thirty five seconds dodging well-aimed bludgers, and holding onto his broom with all his might before finally seeing the snitch, and catching it. He had never considered it a gift that in a regular game there were other players that the beaters had to focus on as well. As the main and only target, he had to constantly dodge the one bludger that they kept firing at him. In the end he passed, and was congratulated heartily by the rest of his team.

He noticed that Ginny and Luna were still over by the stands, and so he broke away from his new team, and walked towards them. Ginny was grinning at him, and Luna had a dreamy, I don't-know-why-I'm-smiling-but-might-as-well-anyways-Oh!-what-a-pretty-cloud smile on her face. Ginny smiled at him, and stepped forward to hug him briefly.

"That was wonderful! I was so scared when you fell off of your broom, though! That was really dangerous!" Alex grinned unrepentantly.

"Well, it worked didn't it? I got the snitch and nothing bad happened."

"You should not be ready to risk yourself so quickly," Luna was looking at him now, her eyes for once focused and intent on his face, "there is more for you to do."

"Such as?" Alex was nervous, the girl had always given him the creeps, but he had never considered her a threat to his identity. Suddenly, her eyes unfocused again, and her face took on a dazed sort of half-frown.

"Essays and such. You know, Transfiguration is very important." Ginny sighed at her friend's words, and grinned at Alex.

"Well, I'll see you later."

"Yes, you will," Alex smiled at her brightly, "and make sure that when we meet tomorrow at lunch you already have an outline for that Potions essay ready."

Ginny groaned as she walked away with Luna.

"Slave driver!" she shouted over her shoulder before she was gone. Alex smiled to himself happily, and turned around to go join the team, which was already digging through a bag that had been pulled from the locker rooms, and were pulling out a set of green robes for him. Alex felt a surge of happiness. He was going to be playing Quidditch again, and that was one of the best things in the world, in his opinion. And that made him feel happy.

--

Moody had to keep himself from showing just how nervous he was as Saturday morning dawned. He went to the Great Hall for breakfast, as usual, and told his colleagues that he didn't want to be disturbed for the afternoon, that he had to go out and get something. Everyone accepted his excuse easily, and found himself wondering just how many students and other teachers had used a similar excuse and never been questioned. Everyone trusted too much in this damned place.

Now he stood in front of his fireplace in his quarters, and was holding the floo powder in one hand, seriously debating not going, but the consequences would be greater if he didn't, and so with a breath to fortify himself, he threw the floo powder down and shouted out the location of Malfoy manor before he went spinning through the floo system.

The parlor that he came tumbling into was done in pale colors, across from him he could see a couch and several chairs in beige leather, with a coffee table of pale wood in the middle. The walls were all done in blue, similar to what the sky would look like on a hot summer day. The carpet was a midnight blue, making the chairs and table stand out. There was one portrait above the fireplace, which coughed at him.

"Aurors. You could at least clean off the soot before you spread it across the whole house." The man in the portrait had aristocratic features, blonde hair, which fell to his shoulders, straight, and falling on either side of his face. He was most definitely a Malfoy ancestor, except for the fact that he didn't have the characteristic grey eyes, they were a pale lavender. Moody stared at him for a minute, not registering what the portrait had said.

"Well, isn't that what house elves are for? Cleaning up your messes?" Moody growled at the portrait. The man sniffed, and looked at him pointedly.

"In the time when I ran this house, the elves were taken better care of. And if it was not necessary for a house elf to do something, we didn't make them do it. It's horrible how they're treated nowadays. They respond much better when you reward them sometimes. I had an elf once that would do anything I asked him, no matter how dangerous, because I remembered his birthday. Once was enough, and then the loyalty that he gave me had nothing to do with the fact that he was my servant, but because he wanted to serve me. There's nothing worse than a house elf that feels like it doesn't want to do what it's being told. They'll find ways around their instructions, and-"

The door opened, interrupting the lecture that Moody had been receiving from the portrait, and Lucius Malfoy came in. he was wearing Black robes, with navy blue embroidery swirling around the buttons on the front. He nodded politely at Moody, and then held out a hand to shake.

"Alastor Moody, I'm pleased that you were able to make it." Moody shook the offered hand, giving his best glower at the blonde man in front of him, and ignore the portrait behind him grumbling about ungrateful family that didn't listen to his advice. Lucius however, turned his gaze to the portrait, and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"I swear, Nicholas, if you continue to mutter such things in the presence of guests, I will turn you into target practice for Alexander and Draco. You may have died young, and left behind your family, and had to watch them as a portrait, but that does not mean that you have to make the rest of us as miserable as you are. If I knew the spell, I would unstuck your portrait from the wall." Nicholas in his portrait leaned against the pale blue couch in his portrait, his black robes over a red tunic almost clashing with it.

"Well, you don't know the spell, I made sure that no one would be able to unstuck my portrait. And go ahead, I assure you that those two brats will not even be able to scratch my portrait."

"Well, we'll see how you feel after we have Alexander try out some parseltongue spells on you." Nicholas paled as Lucius turned around. "Please follow me. Narcissa is waiting for us in my study. We have much to discuss."

Moody followed him through halls lined with portraits of men and women in rich clothing who barely acknowledged them. Occasionally they passed a window, or a stand with a vase of the bust of a famous ancestor, always looking disapproving. They passed one portrait that really stood out from the rest.

It was a life sized portrait of a girl and two boys, sitting at a table, playing chess, with books stacked around them, some almost falling over. The portrait was six feet wide, and nine feet tall. But what struck him, was that the three occupants were all around sixteen or seventeen, he thought, and none of them had the sneering, glaring look that the others did. He found himself stopping to look at them. As he watched the two boys playing against each other, with the girl watching them, he scrutinized their clothing.

The girl had her waist length black hair pulled back into a ponytail, a thin piece of hair falling out, and resting against her cheek, slightly below her midnight blue eyes. She was wearing a long sleeved red dress, so dark that it was almost black, and it reminded him of blood. The sleeves came down just past her elbows, and he could see that she wore no jewelry, besides a red ruby, held in place around her neck with black lace. The stone wasn't large, but it sparkled in the light inside the portrait. The skirt of the dress fell almost to her ankles, and he could see that she wore simple brown boots. A gentle smile played with her mouth as she watched the game.

The boy on her left was the eldest of the group, and was playing the white pieces. He had raven colored hair that fell around the bottoms of his ears, the front tucked back, and soft brown eyes. They were a kind, and sparkled slightly, as he scowled at the board in front of him. He wore a white shirt, which laced up at the top three inches. The sleeves only came down to his mid upper arm, and hung loosely on him, barely hiding the fact that he had a well muscled upper body. His pants were black, and tucked into a pair of simple, brown leather boots. Out of the top of the left one there was the faint gleam of a dagger.

The boy across from him had golden brown hair that had natural highlights of blonde in it, hanging in a straight curtain to his shoulders, the top pulled back with a golden hair clip in the shape of a feather. He could see the concentration in his deep blue eyes. The same eyes as the girl on his right. He was wearing a black shirt, with white and red embroidered flowers around the collar. While this could have been quite feminine, it instead simply made him seem untouchable. The flowers were lilies, and made his collar almost seem as though it were ringed with flames. His shirt was the style was the same as the other boy's, except that his sleeves came all the way down to his wrists. His pants were also black, and tucked into identical boots, with a dagger peaking out of his left leg, as well.

Suddenly, the girl looked up, and smiled at him pleasantly.

"So, are you the one that Lucius has been muttering about? The one that makes dear Alexander upset at school?" Moody found himself taken aback. He hadn't expected such a blunt statement. The golden haired boy hummed as he looked at the chessboard.

"Yes, the pieces are moving, but I dare say that that white King will be pretty grey soon, verging onto black as it collects dirt." He seemed to be ignoring Moody completely. The black haired boy spoke next.

"Well, I think that there should be a third King. It will be happening sooner or later, shouldn't we introduce him now?"

"No, Myrd, we have to wait until he makes his own move, right now he's over here," the girl motioned to a white pawn in the graveyard by the side of the board, "and here" now she pointed to a black pawn, standing in the middle of the board. "Once he realizes what he can do, he will join the two, and we will have to extend the board."

"That's very well, Gan, but what will the other sides do when the third side of the board appears? They'll lose places, and the traitors will have to choose." Moody was very confused. They were talking about the pieces as if they were people. He wondered if they might have been a bit crazy before they were painted.

"Ah, but that is simple, Arty. They will all choose, die, or switch sides!" Gan smiled at the two boys. "It will be quite the show of musical chairs, all of the pieces scrambling to find where they truly belong. Why, this one bishop is still half black." She pointed to a bishop, close to the black side, which was half white and half black. "He'll have a hard time of it." She looked at the piece, and pouted slightly, a sad look in her eyes.

Moody was still staring at them. So they were Gan, Myrd, and Arty. He had definitely never heard those names before. He heard a footstep behind him, and noticed that Lucius was standing several feet away.

"I believe that I brought you here so that we could discuss Alexander, and what you have been doing to make him so anxious." Moody nodded, and followed the man away, leaving behind the again silent portrait. They stepped into a study, a large oak desk stood at the far end of the room, and Narcissa was already sitting behind it, to one side. Behind the desk were bookshelves, all of an apparently innocent, and business oriented nature. Narcissa looked up and frowned.

"What is it, Lucius?" She remained seated, while Lucius gestured Moody to the chair in front of the desk, and sat beside his wife, a slight scowl upon his normally expressionless face.

"That blasted portrait was talking again. This time it was talking about a chess game, and they were talking about adding a third side to the board." Narcissa frowned at her husband's words.

"Who were the three people in the portrait? They referred to each other as Gan, Myrd, and Arty." Both Malfoys nodded. Lucius's face was back to its normal blank mask.

"We have no idea where that portrait came from, or who they really are. According to the family history, that painting will occasionally go completely blank, and its occupants will disappear for long periods at a time, and when they are back, they complain about being sent back to the portrait, referring to it as a prison. It is rumored that there is a hidden room somewhere behind that portrait. No one has been able to get in there, and they always just tell us to try next generation. They're fairly decent, but confusing none the less. But you are not here so that we can talk about the history of my family's pictures, Mr. Moody. We are here to make sure that you understand why my son has chosen to do what he has, and join our family." Lucius was suddenly very serious, and was watching Moody carefully for his reaction.

"I am still of the opinion that you and your Death Eater buddies kidnapped the boy," growled Moody, his magical eye rotating in his head, spinning madly as it examined the entire room. He couldn't see anything that was obviously illegal.

Lucius Malfoy growled and Narcissa stiffened at his accusation.

"When we arrived at his 'home'" the aristocrat sneered on the word, "my wife and I found that he had been beaten half to death by him supposed family. We brought him here, and allowed him to choose what he would like to do. As he is my son, I of course gave him the option of joining us, and taking the Malfoy name. Since then he has proven his loyalty to us, and we have embraced him as one of our own, including our friends. Although few know of his previous…identity." Lucius was still looking at him with those silver eyes, making him rather uncomfortable.

"I still do not understand why you keep referring to him as your son, he is the child of James Potter and Lily Potter-" Lucius slammed a fist down on the table.

"He is in no way the son of that man. His current appearance speaks for its self. We have removed all of the glamours that Lily placed on him. I am not proud to say that during our marriage, I cheated on Narcissa with Lily, but I am not ashamed of the son that we produced. He is a good boy, and I am proud to call him my son." Lucius narrowed his eyes at Moody, and Moody felt a strange fear of the man, seeing the Death Eater that was usually hidden behind the mask, held in check around others. "And as he is my son, I will do anything to protect him, and make sure that no one jeopardizes his current situation. I swear to you, that if you should even breathe a hint of what you know to that meddling, bumbling, well-intentions-paving-the-path-to-his-own-bloody-murder fool, I will personally make sure that you have a nice long stay with Bell-"

"Lucius!" Narcissa interrupted her husband, and turned her attention to their guest, smiling at him, while resting a calming hand on Lucius' arm. "I am proud to call that boy my son, and I'm sure that my husband is merely trying to get across the point that, as parents, we will protect our children, and that we will eliminate any threat that presents itself. I am sure that you are going to assure us that you are not a threat, aren't you, Mr. Moody?" Her voice remained sugary sweet the entire time that she spoke, and Moody found himself wondering if perhaps she was a Death Eater as well, because she sounded positively frightening. And dangerous.

Moody gulped slightly, reigning in his fear.

"I will promise to not expose that Alex Malfoy used to be Harry Potter, if you both provide proof that he is being well taken care of." Moody was sure of this. He wanted the Potter boy to fight for the light side, but if the boy had chosen to go over to the dark side, then who was he to try and change his mind? Merlin knew that he had his mother's stubborn streak in him.

Narcissa smiled at him.

"Lucius?"

"Yes, getting them now, dear." The man grumbled, and Moody raised an eyebrow as the man reached into his desk, and reached his arm all the way up to his shoulder into the drawer so that he could grab something. When he came back up, he brought with him an envelope, filled with what he could only assume were pictures. Lucius placed them on the desk, and pushed them towards Moody. "We took those when we first found him. I hope that they will be all that it will take to convince you that we are better for him than those filthy muggles."

Puzzled, Moody pulled the pictures out of the envelope, and began to sift through them, looking more and more horrified as he looked through the images that showed what condition they had found Alex in, his room, and the cupboard under the stairs. After sitting there silently for a moment, he looked up at the two Malfoys.

"Did Dumbledore know about this?" His voice was cold, and calm, and he noticed as approving glint in the elder Malfoy's eyes.

"Of course he did, he put the boy there, and sent him back there every year. Alex even mentioned that once the old man saw some of the bruises, but dismissed them. He also led the rest of the staff to believe that he was spoiled by his relatives." Moody nodded at those words, and looked down at the pictures again before pushing them back into their envelope, and sliding them back across the desk.

"I will never tell that man where Harry is-where Alex is. I don't want him to have to go through something like that again. If the old man really knew and did nothing, then that is merely more of a reason for me to not tell him where the boy is now, to discourage his belief that he is dead. That he died on the Death Eater raid that I assume you staged so that he could escape without anyone looking for him?" Both Malfoys nodded at him, and Moody gave a grim smile. "No one will find out who he is from me."

"That is very good. We thank you for your cooperation." Lucius smiled at him, and Moody snorted, muttering something about his cooperation and where they could put it.

"I am simply doing this because I have been convinced. I am not cooperating. If at any point I believe that this arrangement is detrimental to him in any way, I will inform someone, although it is unlikely to be Dumbledore."

"That is all we ask of you." Narcissa smiled. "Now, tea?"

--

Alex stood in the library, staring at a book. The book remained on the shelf, inches from his nose as he studied it. He still was trying to believe that something like this was in the regular part of the library, in the section under magical history, and was trying to figure out if it was jinxed or cursed to harm the person who pulled it from the shelf. He wasn't sure that he wanted to really pull it from the shelf and read it, either.

'_The Truth About Merlin, Arthur, and Morgan'_ by Gweneveir Promentus sat on the shelf in front of him still, ten minutes after he had seen it. It wasn't the title tat intrigued him, or that the author was Gweneveir, but the fact that the rest of the books on the shelves below it were spotless, not a speck of dust in sight, while the shelf that this book, and the others there, were covered in dust and spider webs. This book had caught his eye first. Immediately to it's right, though, was a book titled _'The Life and Pranks of Salazar Slytherin'_ by Godric Gryffindor. However, it looked like it had been written on the outside of a notebook. On the left was a book that also caught his attention, but for a different reason. It was the weirdest thing that he had ever found in a wizarding library. _'How to Cook a Perfect Dinner'_ by Nagrom. He stared. Morgan spelled backwards. Nagrom. Who the hell had put this shelf together? These books looked like they were ancient, almost twenty years old. So not ancient, but they appeared to be from the time of Merlin himself! There were twenty books in all, lined up on the shelf, by the four founders, and other famous witches and wizards. He really didn't know what to do. One book looked like it was made of stone, and another looked like it might have skin on its cover.

Giving in to the temptation, he pulled thee book by Gweneveir Promentus off the shelf, and pushed it into his bag. Then he turned around, and made his way to the front of the library to meet with Ginny.

She was waiting for him by the doors. She smiled at him, and gestured for him to follow her. Sighing, he caught up with the red head.

"Where are we going?"

She turned to grin at him, and just kept walking up stairs, and through several hidden doors.

"I've decided that the library is not very comfortable, and considering the amount of time that you have spent, and will probably still spend, helping me with my homework, I have decided that we should meet in the Gryffindor common room from now on."

Alex stopped walking.

"What?"

"I said," she rolled her eyes, "that since we spend so much time studying, and revising papers, that you should be comfortable, and so therefore, I am going to give you the password to the Gryffindor common room, so that you can come up there to meet with me, and so that you can find me if you need to."

"But, I'm a Slytherin, you know, one of the evil gits. None of your house mates would exactly appreciate-"

"My house mates can deal with their own stinking prejudices on their own time Now come on!" Ginny grabbed his hand, and pulled him along behind her along one final hall until they stood in front of the fat lady. She looked down at them, and scowled at the Slytherin badge on Alex's robes.

"Password?"

"Snorkel."

The portrait swung open, and Alex was pulled into the very familiar common room. The carpets and tapestries, and the chairs and couches were all done in reds and golds. The couch in front of the fireplace was occupied by a very familiar patch of red hair, and bushy brown hair. He felt a slight pang of longing, before he remembered how they had all ignored his letters, the bruises, and how Ron had ignored the fact that in second year he had bars on his window. Then all the longing was gone, and he was able to put his cool Malfoy mask in place. Admittedly it had wavered for a moment there, but he would have Draco and his father work on it with him later. A voice broke him from his thoughts, and he turned to look o his right, as a Dean Thomas came towards him, an angry look on his face.

"What are you doing Ginny? Bringing a snake in here?" Now others were looking at them, as well as Ron and Hermione. Alex strengthened his mask, and stood his ground. Ginny moved in front of him.

"He's been tutoring me, and so I decided to invite him here, it's much more comfortable then the library, and he's a decent guy. So leave him alone."

"Decent guy? Ginny, he's a Malfoy! Malfoy's aren't 'decent'!" Now a seventh year boy was joining in, and Alex could see Ron standing up, a scowl on his face.

"Perhaps this wasn't one of the best ideas, Ginny." Alex muttered quietly, moving to turn away and go out of the portrait hole. "Perhaps it would be better if I just left-"

"No, Alex. I told you that they would have to deal with their own issues, and they will. You've done nothing wrong." Ginny was standing tall, glaring at the rest of the house. Hermione finally stepped forward, and stood next to Ginny.

"She's right, he's done nothing wrong, he hasn't bullied any of you, and you should all leave him alone. He's not causing trouble, he's tutoring Ginny, and that's all." Alex was looking at her with wide eyes, and his eyes widened as Seamus Finnegan stepped forward as well as Neville Longbottom, both of whom decided to stick out their hands.

"Well, if you won't cause trouble…" Neville shifted uneasily, and Alex shook his hand.

"I will try to be as unobtrusive as possible." Alex promised, and then his hand was gripped in Seamus'.

"I'm willing to give you a try, Malfoy. Anything for one as cute as you." The Irish boy gave Alex a wink, and Alex felt a lush cross his cheeks, pulling his hand back, and looking away shyly. This made Seamus and Hermione grin, before there was a spluttering sound from in front of them. Ron was standing there, his ears completely red, gaping at them.

"You're all letting a _Malfoy_ in here? In Gryffindor Tower?" Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Of course we are Ron, he's a decent guy, like I've said, and I have nothing against him. He's been nothing but polite so far. Come on Alex, let's get a spot in the corner." Ginny led Alex and their three supporters to a table in the back corner, moving through the glaring Gryffindors who parted for them. Alex was very uncomfortable, as they sat down. He pulled out a piece of parchment, ink, and a quill, before speaking to Ginny quietly. The common room was still surprisingly quiet, and it was making him nervous.

"You all didn't have to do that. I don't want you all to be in trouble with your house-mates." Hermione snorted.

"We did it because we wanted to. And you really haven't done anything but be polite, too polite almost, trying to not draw any attention to yourself. You really are welcome here, I'd just make sure that you have one of us with you if you come in, though." She shot a glare at a third year who promptly squeaked and ran away to join her friends at the other side of the room. Seamus chuckled.

"Well, Malfoy, there's one bonus to sitting with you." Alex raised an eyebrow, unconsciously looking a lot like Draco.

"And what would that be, Finnegan?"

"No matter where we sit, the table will always be unoccupied!" Neville choked on a laugh, and smiled for the first time.

"That is true."

"Now, Alex, if we're done talking about the many benefits of sitting with a Slytherin, could we move onto my Potions essay? Ginny gave a falsely sweet smile at Seamus, and turned to look at Alex, her book on the table. Alex unconsciously slid into the easy manner they two had adopted around each other.

"Only if you show me your outline first, Ginny." She groaned, and pulled out a blank parchment.

"You'll wait for me to do it, right?" Alex laughed, and nodded, probably making some of the first years wet themselves and he could swear he saw a second year girl faint.

"Of course, Ginny."

"Hey, Malfoy, since you're not helping her, can you help me with the essay for our class?" Neville was looking down at the table, and so Alex smiled at him kindly.

"Of course. Which one did you pick?"

"The one on the Blood Replenishing potion."

"Ah, I chose the Wolfsbane potion, but I can help you still. So, how far are you into it?"

--

The following week was fairly good for Alex. Moody had started to actually be fair with him, and had left him alone. He was still quite put off by the man's behavior, as if he were just another student. And he hadn't been openly antagonizing him. Alex had eventually decided that he should be thankful for small blessings, and just accept it. Now he was much more comfortable in DADA, and was actually able to participate in the discussions without being afraid that his teacher would start sneering at him, or glaring. He was having a much better time in class now.

Alex had been reading the book about Merlin, Morgan, and Arthur every night before bed, and so far he had made it through the first two chapters. He had always been under the impression that they had not all gotten along, but according to the book, Merlin was the oldest by three years, Arthur was the second oldest, and Morgan was the youngest. They had all apparently lived in the same place. Gweneveir had made a brief mention that it was a proud city on the ocean that had been destroyed shortly after they had left it and come to England. Arthur took up residence in a family as a young boy by the name or Arthur Pendragon, and Morgan had left to live in a hill, doing research. Merlin had changed into an old man in appearance only, traveling and healing people, helping as he could with his powers. That was as far as he had gotten. The chapters were fairly long, with small handwriting. Surprisingly the writing hadn't smeared or aged since it was written. He just had to imagine that there were some powerful spells on it. He kept the book locked in his trunk, under several wards.

The Quidditch team had been working him in drills, making him practice until late in the night, and he had been helping his new Gryffindor friends, doing his own homework, and then falling into bed at the end of the day, exhausted, just to wake up at 6:30 the next morning just to start all over. And now he was floating above the Quidditch pitch, waiting for the final whistle so that he could fly into the air and start looking for the little golden ball that would end the game. As he listened to Hooch telling the two captains, Draco and Ronald Weasley that they had to play a fair game, he smiled at Ginny, across from him, and looked up into the sky.

Through the afternoon the sky had darkened, and now there were clouds, roiling above them, about to start raining at any moment. The spectators had umbrellas ready for the moment the sky broke.

The sound of the whistle being blown blasted him from his thoughts, and he was flying through the air, almost instinctually looking for a glint of gold to signal that he had seen the snitch. It was barely three minutes into the game when a bludger was sent his way. He had to dodge it, diving below it. Three minutes later, and another bludger was aimed his way. He was beginning to think that the Gryffindors' tactic might be to just knock him out of the air, when he felt the first drop of rain. He looked up and got another one, square in his eye. Swearing about bloody nature having ruddy aim, when the floodgates opened, and he was soaked through his robes. He glared up at the sky again.

"Ruddy clouds." It was then, when he looked down, when he caught the glint. He stared for a moment, and caught it again, by the Gryffindor goal posts. He wouldn't risk ignoring it.

He dove.

The wind was rushing past his ears, and the sounds of the crowd shouting, and the commentator all died down. All he saw was the little golden ball flitting around d by the goalposts. He was vaguely aware of Ginny, closing in behind him. He reached out his hand, felt the cold mettle, got it in his fist, and then pain exploded in his right side. He was sent flying into the air, losing a grip on his broom, and feeling the wind, almost pushing him towards the ground. He felt the ground rise up to meet him, and when he hit the wet ground, he could swear that he felt something in his chest that had been weakened by the initial impact on his chest from whatever hit him, snap. His vision was covered in black spots, and then he felt someone take his left hand. He saw Draco, his face pale, and Alex saw his lips moving, but he couldn't hear anything. A cough wracked his lungs, and he tried to smile at his brother. He brought up his right hind, still clutched in a fist, to hold up the golden snitch, which he had not let go of. He saw a tear fall over his brother's cheek. Or maybe it was just the rain. He wasn't sure anymore. He was barely aware of others gathering around him, shouting.

And then everything went black.

A/N: Sorry, wanted to update. I can't write Quidditch games well. Don't hate me. Review, please?


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing. No profit is made.

A/N: Pardon the mistakes, my beta is on vacation. I do my best on the editing scale. I will be gone for four weeks, starting the third week of July. I will write it all down and type when I get back. No Internet, or computer, or English at camp. Only what I write…my mind will go numb…sob…

Chapter 9

When Alex opened his eyes, he found himself looking into a pair of midnight blue eyes, in a face framed by dark hair. He jumped, and found that there were no injuries on him. No dirt for that matter. And he was completely dry. He looked around. Across from the couch that he was lying on there was a bookshelf. To his right, the back of the room seemed to go on forever, fading into shadow. Smiling at him, crouching in front of him still was the girl, who appeared to be about his age, maybe a bit older. Her eyes glittered and shone with mirth and what he thought might be extreme age, but wasn't sure. To his left, he saw two young men playing chess, one with brown hair, the other sandy blonde. Beyond them he could see a dimly lit hallway, as if clouds, or something dimmed the light coming into it. He frowned at it. If he didn't know better, he would say that they were right outside his father's study. The girl's voice broke him from his musings.

"Welcome, Alex." She was smiling, her red dress pooled on the ground, the ruby on her throat glittering in the room's dim light.

"Where am I?" His voice sounded odd, echoing in his ears. He sat up, and looked around himself, observing the books piled around. It was the man with the brown hair that answered him.

"You'll find out where you are in good time. Questions that you ask had better be good, child. I would expect more from a wizard of your caliber." The sandy haired man chuckled, and moved a black and white bishop across the board toward the white side.

"Come, Myrd, be kind to him. I'm sure that this is all very confusing."

"Yes, but even if it is, he should wait until the proper time. All things will be revealed in time."

The dark haired girl laughed, and the brown haired man grumbled and glared at the chessboard. She looked at him, and smiled again.

"You may call me Gan. And as Myrd so kindly points out, all things will come to you in time. You will figure out how to call us, once the board is set. Until everything is ready, you will not know all that you need." She frowned slightly. "I may sound like a meddling old fool, but truly, you will not be able to call on us for our help until you have all of the pieces, and have put them together."

"You need to make your own decisions, not let the people around you make those decisions for you." The sandy haired man spoke to him, and grinned, then stood and came over to them. He reached into his pocket, and drew out a golden chain, from which hung a single piece of jade in the shape of a rose, long stemmed and in full bloom. He held it out, and put it into Alex's right pocket, patting the fabric, and still grinning. "A little clue to help you along in your searching."

"Of course, that's a rather large clue." Gan laughed, and caressed Alex's cheek, smiling at him softly. Myrd coughed across the room, and looked at them pointedly. Gan sighed, and the blonde man moved back too his chair. "It's time that we were sending you back. Come and visit us. And keep reading, knowledge is power; over both your friends, and your enemies."

"Wait, but I need to know, where are you? How do I find you? Call you?" Alex panicked, but he remained still as Gan stroked his cheek, and continued to smile.

"All in good time, Alex, now go." She leaned forward, and kissed his forehead, and then he was spinning, swirling through space.

He finally stopped, and was aware of someone holding his left hand tightly. He was also aware of voices, slightly hushed, but in a heated discussion. He tried to move, but found that his upper body wouldn't do what he wanted it to. The voices rose in volume.

"What do you mean, it was an accident? He had the snitch in his hand, and that boy sent a bludger right at him!" Alex would recognize his father's voice anywhere. Were they talking about him?

"The beater has been given a week of detentions, and the house has had fifty points deducted-" Dumbledore was trying to calm his father down. Not gonna happen. Alex felt a vindictive thrill course through him, but left his eyes closed. He felt someone grab his right hand, smaller hands than the ones on his left.

"If that is how this is being dealt with, then I am tempted to pull them both out of this school, and either teach them at home or send them elsewhere. I'm sure that we could move closer to Durmstrang." Oh, their mom was there too. Yep. Dumbledore was going to get it.

"Mrs. Malfoy, I assure you that the boy is being disciplined. He is in his Head of House's office at this moment, being spoken to. We will try to ensure that this is dealt with to the utmost of out capabilities."

"Perhaps," Lucius's voice was a low hiss now, "the boy should also be reminded that by the rules of Quidditch, if the seeker is in pursuit of the snitch, has the snitch in their grasp, that the other players are not allowed to interfere with the two seekers, much less shoot a bludger at them!" Alex suppressed a chuckle, which turned into a moan as his ribs protested. Footsteps hurried towards him, and he felt a smooth hand, Narcissa's, touch his cheek, pushing some of his hair out of the way.

"Are you there, Alex? Can you open your eyes?" Her voice was soft and pleading. Alex opened his eyes slightly, and blinked in the suddenly bright Infirmary. He looked around, trying to figure out where Gan had gone. His eyes landed on Draco on his left, the one clutching his hand, and then he looked to his right, and saw Ginny Weasley sitting there with her lips pursed, a worried frown on her face.

Alex frowned, and tried to sit up, but found that his upper torso was restrained. He looked around confused.

"Where'd they go?" His father frowned.

"Where did who go, Alex?" He frowned at his father.

"Them, they were sitting, and they said that I had to…" he trailed off. That he had to go back. He hadn't hurt there, so he must not have _been_ there. He remembered something, and it took all of his energy to hold himself back from reaching into his pocket in front of all of these people and seeing if the necklace was in his pocket. "Nothing. Sorry, must have been a dream." Alex relaxed his head back onto the pillow, ignoring his family's stares.

"Do you remember what happened, Mr. Malfoy?" Dumbledore was at the foot of his bed, his blue eyes twinkling, and Alex tried not to sneer at him. He made a show off furrowing his brow, as if in thought.

"I think I grabbed the snitch, but then I just felt pain, all up my right side…" He widened his eyes a bit. "Did the Gryffindor beater send a bludger at me?" He let his voice quaver a bit, and he saw Ginny's lips tighten. Draco answered him.

"Yeah, when you got knocked off your broom you hit the ground. I was scared, and then you were only looking at me, and then you held up your hand, and held up the snitch." Draco stopped, and closed his eyes briefly, breathing. "When you passed out, the game was declared over, and you were brought up here. Mother and Father were called, and we have been here ever since."

Alex smiled at his brother and turned to Ginny, struggling to raise his right hand, and extend it to her.

"You played a good game. I don't think that there was much cheating. You almost beat me to the snitch." Ginny's eyes filled with tears and she shook his hand gently.

"You won though."

Alex's eyebrows shot all the way to his hairline.

"We did?" Ginny nodded.

"You did catch the snitch my boy." Dumbledore twinkled at him, and Alex smiled, feeling sleepy again.

"That's nice"

--

The next time he woke up, Alex found himself in the Infirmary, at night, alone. He sat up, and found that he had movement back in his limbs again. There was still a lingering soreness in his ribs, but he would be able to deal with it. He looked around. The rest of the Hospital Wing was empty. Smiling, he made a move to get up, but as soon as his feet touched the floor, a door at the far end banged open, and Alex jumped, turning around to see Madame Pomferey standing in the doorway, her hair flying everywhere, and a robe tied around her nightgown.

"Where do you think that _you_ are going, Mr. Malfoy?" She was striding towards him, so Alex decided to play innocent.

"I decided that you probably have enough on your hands without me here, so I was going to just make my way down to my dorm, and then rid you of little old me." He smiled at her, and saw her frown increase. He knew that he was in trouble.

"It is after hours, and you will be going nowhere. You will be remaining here until I decide that you are healthy enough to be out and about. Never mind the fact that your father would probably kill me slowly and painfully if I let you go without even checking you over. Now. Get in that bed again."

Shoulders drooping, Alex pulled himself onto the bed, and glowered at her as she used her wand to do several checks on him. She was frowning, and making small noises. He kept fidgeting, and looking around the ward, trying to not just get up and run. He hated the Hospital Wing.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy, I would say that you are pretty well healed, I just request that you stay here the rest of the night. Some clothes will be brought for you, as well as your bag when it's morning. I would suggest that you sleep." She turned around, and left. With a final glare in his direction, she disappeared back through the door through which she came.

Alex lay back in the bed and sighed. He rolled onto his side, facing her office, and brought his pillow around, pretending to hug it, when in reality he was reaching into his robe, and pulling out the necklace that the blonde man had given him. He was startled, now that he saw it better. The jade was cut so finely, with no tool marks, completely smooth. He studied it, how it glistened, how it looked so fragile, yet felt so heavy in his palm. The whole pendant was probably about as big as his thumb, from base to tip. He gently held it, and caressed it.

Smiling softly, he put it around his neck, and fell asleep holding onto the stone.

--

Bright light made him open his eyes, and groan in protest to waking up. He heard a quiet chuckle.

"Time to wake up and great the day, brother of mine." Was whispered into his ear by Draco. He shot up, and looked at him, blinked at his brother. Quickly reminding himself that they were pretending to be cousins, he smacked Draco on the arm.

"Why do you always have to wake me up like that? Can't you ever be nice to me?" He pouted, and gave his brother a sad face.

Draco snorted.

"Nice? I am being nice."

"If this is nice, I would prefer sarcastic and wicked." Draco grinned at him, and tossed some clothes at him.

"Come on, we have to head down to breakfast. It's the weekend, so I let you sleep in a little later than usual." Alex groaned.

"Why must you do this to me?" He looked accusingly at Draco over his shoulder as he changed, not particularly caring who saw him. Years in the changing rooms had gotten rid of most of his modesty. "You just want to make an entrance, don't you?"

Draco grinned, and then turned it into a smirk, turning his nose up into the air.

"Of course I make an entrance, not that I have to try hard. I mean, who wouldn't want to look at this?" He gestured down at himself, and Alex rolled his eyes.

"Riiiiight. And I'm sure that the way you prance over to the Slytherin table is just my imagination, hm?"

"I do not prance."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do no-" Draco cut himself off, and glared at him as they approached the doors to the Hospital Wing, about to leave. "You were doing that on purpose."

"Doing what?" Alex smiled innocently at Draco, and then went skipping through the doors, out into the hall, leaving a smirking Draco behind for a moment before the other blonde boy caught up with him.

"You're awfully spry for someone who just got over a concussion and four broken ribs."

"Really?" Alex looked at him in shock as they started down the stairs. "That many? Well, I guess that's not too bad. With Madame Pomferey fixing me up, no wonder I feel fine already. It's when you leave the bones alone that they keep you moving slow." Alex knew that Draco was probably thinking dark thoughts about possible ways to have gotten rid of his previous family, and so started singing at the top of his lungs in an off-key voice. This was no ordinary song; it was a song that had driven countless to insanity. This song was worse than the 'Song that never ends'.

It was horrible.

Repetitive and happy.

It was 'It's A Small World' from Disneyland.

Draco clapped his hands over his ears, and looked at Alex aghast, as they drew near the doors to the Great Hall.

"How do you know the words to that? _Why_ do you know the words for that?"

Alex stopped in the doors long enough to smile at his brother.

"Because it's such a happy song, and I know how much people love it. Now, where did I leave off? Oh, yes." And then he was singing again. The muggleborns and halfbloods in the room were looking at him in horror, while the purebloods looked about ready to hurl something at him. Apparently, it was not a song that many thought a pureblood wizard should know.

Dumbledore was twinkling at him, as he continued to sing, and walk to the Slytherin table, skipping and smiling. He passed by the Hufflepuff table and waved at some first years. They turned rather pale. He finally finished singing, and sat at the Slytherin table between Blaise and Greg.

Dumbledore stood up and applauded, smiling while the rest of the Great Hall looked at him as if he had suddenly grown two green and orange heads.

"Ah, such a lovely song, Mr. Malfoy, among my favorites of the muggle pieces I have heard. Now, since I am standing, I might as well say this now, and then repeat it at dinner. Next weekend will be a Hogsmeade weekend, and the schedule will be posted some time tomorrow morning, Monday. Enjoy your Sunday, and have a lovely breakfast!" The old man, in his lavender robes with green spirals sat down, and began speaking with McGonagal.

Alex grinned at the people on either side of him.

"So, how was I?" The faces of the people closest to him were inscrutable. Blaise stuck out a hand and felt his forehead. Alex merely raised an eyebrow.

"Just checking for a fever. I was thinking that maybe that bludger hit more than just your ribs."

"Yeah, Alex." Theodore Nott leaned across Pansy, on the other side of the table to scrutinize him. "You're acting like a bloody Hufflepuff."

Alex's eyes lit up, and Draco groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"A Slytherpuff!" Alex crowed, and now he was receiving the same looks that Dumbledore had received moments before. "That's it! A Slytherpuff! Genius! Thank you, Theodore. I will take that as a complement." Alex managed to pull off a bow, leaning in, and almost dipping his hair into the butter.

Next to him, Greg sighed, and pulled him upright, before pulling a hairtye out of his bag, and pulling Alex's hair into a ponytail at the back of his head. Alex grinned at him, and reached forward to grab a piece of toast. Some bacon, and butter, both of which were placed onto the toast, followed this shortly. Draco glared at him.

"You are not making that horrid concoction again." Draco's eyes were narrowed, and Alex just smiled at him.

"It's not the same. I figure that variety is key in one's life." Alex then reached for the jam, put a dollop on his toast and bacon. Then he grabbed the marmalade, added a small scoop, and grabbed a pancake, cut a toast-sized chunk out of it, and placed it on the toast. Taking a big bite, Alex smiled at Draco across from him. He noticed that most people were looking at him with disgust. "It's very good. Want some?"

Draco recoiled from the mass on the bread.

"You couldn't make me eat that if you put sugar on it-" Alex's eyes lit up.

"That's what it was missing! Powdered sugar!" Everyone at the table groaned as he added sugar to the confection. After eating half of it, he made himself some coffee, added a large amount of sugar, managed to find some chocolate sauce, and then added cream. No one could bear to watch him eating it, and they all had to turn away.

After he was done, Alex smiled at them all, and stood up to leave. He smiled, and waved, then put his hands in the pockets of his pants, and walked out of the Great Hall singing "It's a Small World" at the top of his lungs.

--

Alex had barely made it to lunch when Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Seamus Finnegan found him. He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.

"What do you all want?" He had his bag over his shoulder, and was planning to study in the library until he got hungry. On Sundays they left lunch out from noon till 1:30. Ginny fidgeted a little.

"We just wanted to say that we were sorry for what our team did. I'm really sorry that you got hurt. You weren't cheating at all." She looked up at him, and Alex found himself smiling at her.

"Don't worry, it's not like any of you did it. I'm fine, everything is forgiven." Alex smiled at them all. Neville was the one to speak next.

"That's it? No evil pranks? Taunting? Threats? Humiliation? Nothing? You just forgive?"

Alex nodded.

Seamus snorted.

"You are not for real. You forgive way too easily."

Alex shrugged.

"When you go through what I have, a bludger in the side, the wounds from which are easily healed, is nothing. Really, nothing's wrong in my opinion, it's not like he smashed my broom. That I might get mad about, but it was just me, I'm fine really." Alex grinned at their gobsmacked looks. "Now, I'm gonna go and browse the library, already done with homework, so I'm gonna have some fun. I'll see you at lunch. Bye!"

Before he turned the corner he heard Hermione shout at him.

"Nice singing this morning!"

"Thanks!"

--

Alex found a nice secluded corner in the library, and at down, pulled out the book by Gweneveir, and began to read. He managed to make it through a half a chapter. Arthur had taken the place of the old king on the throne, believing that he could do a better job at reuniting the kingdom. From what he guessed about the man's character, he was strong headed enough to do it. Merlin came back to help him, and Morgan remained in the shadows, giving advice, and making sure that there were no successful assassination attempts. Any attempt that got close would reveal what they were. Merlin appeared to be the grandfatherly man, assisting the young man with no ruling experience. From what he could tell, they were all one hundred years old already, at least.

Everything that he learned about them made him wonder more and more about just how powerful they really were. Apparently, when Arthur fell in love with Gweneveir, it caused a fight between Morgan and him, which led Morgan to lock herself in her lab for several days. At the end of three days, an explosion blasted the door off its hinges, and everyone had come to see what happened. She had accidentally created a young man, about nineteen years old. That had pissed everyone off, as she had been messing with her blood, and Arthur's blood. The young man was Mordred.

He stopped at the point where the other two had accepted the boy, as long as Morgan raised him, when he got hungry, and went down for lunch.

--

Monday dawned bright and sunny. However, it was cold. All the students were wearing scarves and gloves, shivering in the air when they had to go outside. Alex was excited for the prospect of going into Hogsmeade with his brother and their friends. He would even get to spend some time with his Gryffindor friends. He went through the week singing, laughing, and referring to select Slytherins, including himself, as Slytherpuffs.

Most in the house were cursing Theodore Nott for giving him the idea.

For the rest of the week the weather got progressively colder. By Saturday the sky was grey, and all of the students were eyeing the road to Hogsmeade, which to them seemed like a trap. The clouds, to them, were simply waiting for them to get halfway to the town before breaking out the buckets, and freezing them to the bone with rain.

Alex started out with the Slytherins, making his way to the town, chatting, and laughing about what had happened that week. The Three Broomsticks was full of students, all purchasing warm butterbeer, and warming up in the shop. After spotting his other friends off to the side, Alex made his excuses. Left his brother and their friends to join the Gryffindors. Seamus scooted over, and let him onto the bench, draping an arm around him. Alex and Ginny both glared at him until he removed his arm. Seamus grinned sheepishly at them.

"Apparently no one here can take a joke." Alex snorted at him, and grabbed an unclaimed butterbeer from the center of the table, taking off the top, and taking a long sip from it. Then he realized that they were all staring at him.

"Um, was this someone's?"

Hermione snorted.

"No, they're just wondering how you can be so casual around us all. Your cousin would never act like you. Never so…friendly."

Alex grinned at her.

"Draco never grew up like I did, so that would be why we act different." He grinned at them. "No matter how long Lucius and Narcissa go on and on about the manners and rules that I am lacking in knowledge of, I still don't absorb them. There's nothing I can do about it, I just didn't get enough of it when I was younger."

Neville looked at Hermione expectantly, but she gave him a pointed look.

"You were the one who wanted to ask, you get to do it. Be brave." Neville fidgeted, and Alex did his best to just smile, and not look at all intimidating, so that the boy would have the chance to ask his question.

"Alex…why are you staying with the Malfoys? You say that you're Draco's cousin, but there's always something else there."

Alex looked at his bottle of butterbeer, and downed the rest of it before looking at them.

"Perhaps you'd just settle for the abbreviated version? No? Alright." He looked out the window. "It's not raining yet, let's take a walk."

They were walking out the door, and Alex made eye contact with Draco, who frowned at him, but refrained from saying anything.

Alex led them towards the shrieking shack. When they were far enough away, he gestured for them to take a seat. He cast privacy, anti-spying, anti-listening, and detection wards, as well as a silencing spells. Everyone was looking at him curiously.

"The reason that I am staying with the Malfoys is because my family abused me. Over the summer, Lucius got a letter from my mother and brought me to live with him and his family. They have taken care of me since then. On the train, the wounds that they were worried about were some of the injuries that I got from my cousin opening up when I fell in Diagon Alley."

"Your cousin? You mean Draco?" Hermione wore a puzzled expression on her face, and was leaning towards him.

Alex shook his head.

"Draco's not my cousin, he's my brother."

The silence was deafening.

"Why are you telling us this?" Neville was looking at the ground, and Alex couldn't see his expression. He shrugged.

"You asked. I can trust you all, you've been nice, and I really don't know why I'm telling you this." Alex sat down, and drew his knees up to his chest. "Maybe I just want to have people there for me besides my Father, Mother, and brother. I really don't know."

"Why would you feel like you could trust us? It's been just a few weeks that all of us have been getting along." Seamus was watching him. "What aren't you telling us?"

Alex stiffened.

"There's nothing I'm hiding."

"Are you so sure?"

Alex looked at him, and buried his face in his knees.

"I can't tell you. I really want to, but until this is all over, until I know what I am going to do, I can't tell you everything. I can't. Only my family can know that. My biggest secret." Alex felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up, shocked to find Ginny there. She smiled at him.

"You don't have to tell us until you feel that you can. Don't worry about it." And then she hugged him. Alex wrapped his arms around her, and buried his head in her hair. He heard Neville speak.

"She's right, Alex, we'll be here for you. That's what friends do."


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Disclaimer: I own nothing. No profit is made. I just do this for fun.

Chapter 10

Alex and his friends wandered around Hogsmeade, making stops at Zonkos and Honeydukes, to name a few. Alex was grinning madly, and his Gryffindor friends were starting to feel sorry for the school at large. The young Malfoy had made many purchases at both stores, and now had enough ammunition to prank the school, and enough sugar to make all of Hogwarts hyper.

They left him just outside of the Tree Broomsticks, where he said that Draco would find him. They left with a last dubious glance back at him. Alex looked inside to see if his brother was there, but didn't see him. He sat down to the left of the door, and waited.

While he waited, he pulled out the necklace that he had taken to wearing around. The funny thing was that no one had noticed it, or mentioned it. Even Moody had refrained from commenting on it. Alex wasn't sure if the man had even seen it. He held the jade rose in between his thumb and forefinger, twirling it, watching as it reflected the dim light. He was sure that there was something he was missing. It was as if he should know where it was from. He sighed, still entranced by the play of lights. If only he knew who those people had been…Myrd, Gan, and the blonde man.

He heard his name shouted, and looked up, shoving the necklace under his shirt, and standing up, picking up his bags, and greeted his brother.

"Did you get anything, Draco?" Alex smiled at his brother, who smirked back at him.

"Of course. I am not going to show you what I got, though. I got some presents for you and Mother and Father. Alex grinned back, and lifted a bag from the knife shop in the town.

"I got some presents too. I hope that everyone likes them. I even got one for _Tom_, I appreciate the chance that he has given me, and got him a thank you gift." Draco's eyes went wide.

"Oh." His voice was an undignified squeak, and Alex had to grin at him.

"Yeah. I also got a lot of candy, and we stopped at Zonkos! Hermione is suspicious of what I am going to do with them, but I think it'll be fun." Draco went even paler.

"They took you to Zonkos?" Alex nodded. Draco sighed, and pressed his fingers to his forehead. "We are doomed."

Alex suddenly became serious.

"We also need to talk. Could we walk alone on the way back to the castle?" Draco looked at him, studying his face before nodding.

"Sure. How about we head back now?" Alex nodded, and hurried to catch up to his brother to walk at his side. As they walked, Alex told his brother what he had told Neville, Ginny, Hermione, and Seamus. Throughout his story, his brother's face darkened, and Alex found himself worrying slightly.

"Are you sure that it was such a good idea to tell them all that? I mean, what if they figure it out? How many wizards are there that have abusive relatives, with a cousin, and are your age?" Alex winced.

"I see your point…"

"Yeah."

As they made their way up to the castle, it started to rain.

A/N: Sorry, I leave in the morning. My last offering. I was working, and will write more while I am gone. Thank you all for reviewing!


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I make no money on this, it's for fun. I wrote this bit at camp, so it may be a little off. Oh, and Happy Holidays!

Chapter 11

Alex sat staring out at the rain that had been falling for two days. He had already wrapped all the presents that he had brought, and worked a day ahead in all of his classes. Now, he was debating pulling out the book on Merlin before he had to go down to Quidditch practice.

Sighing, he pulled the book out of his bag, opened it to the fourth chapter, and began to read.

'_Chapter 4: Powerful Artifacts You Have and Haven't Heard of'_

'_Merlin, or Myrdin, had several objects of power. One, most commonly known, was his staff. Many described it as an object of immeasurable power. However, it was more simply, a staff of a special wood, with symbols carved on the sides, and a ruby embedded at the top._

'_The symbols were made to make his wielding of the staff easier, and increase that which he could influence with his powers. It is said that the staff, when his power was combined with the power of the ruby, could even allow him to make contact with the dead.'_

Alex had a flash of memory, the ruby that Gan had worn on her throat, but discounted it. He had been in a jewelry shop in Hogsmeade, and there had been an entire display case of ruby jewelry.

He read on.

'_Arthur is said to have had a sword, Excalibur, which possessed magical powers. Arthur did have such a sword, and as his wife, I also possessed a magical weapon. Mine was a dagger, to which Morgan added protection spells, and ensured that neither sword nor dagger could be wielded by anyone other than us. _

_This spell did have some drawbacks at first, for though she was brilliant, Morgan had yet to work out a few errors when the weapons were presented to us. So for several months after we were gifted with the weapons, Morgan had to routinely heal burned fingers as the weapons burned our hands, when the powers fluctuated, or were influenced by other spells. _

_Arthur also had another object of power. He wore it only under his clothing, and never showed it to anyone; the only reason I was privileged enough to see it was because I was his wife. He also believed that it wasn't a particularly manly ornament, and so lived in fear of one of the knights finding out his 'secret'. Morgan made it while they were still studying in the city of Atlantis. With the occasional assistance from Merlin, she managed to make it in the course of a year-'_

"Alex! Time to go! We're going to be late!"

Alex slammed the book shut, and grabbed his broom before rushing out of the room after Vincent, hurrying to catch up to the beater.

"Why are we having practice in the rain?" whined Alex as they made their war to the Entrance Hall doors.

"Because your crazy cousin said so."

"Thought as much." Alex continued to mutter about evil, scheming, blond Slytherins who wanted him to catch a cold, and various ways to get revenge on them, including changing their hair gel with red hair dye. Vincent was chuckling all the way.

When they emerged from the fairly warm safety of the castle, Alex was immediately soaked through, and clung to the larger boy so that they wouldn't get separated, and so that he wouldn't fall in the rapidly appearing mud.

They found the team already assembled, and quickly joined them as Draco shouted orders. A simple scrimmage, so that they would be used to flying an playing in such weather conditions. Draco assured them that they wouldn't have to try anything dangerous, and that it would be perfectly safe.

Twenty minutes into the practice, one of the chasers fell off their broom right above Alex, meaning that he fell directly on top of the smaller boy. Both players went tumbling fifteen feet to the ground.

Alex immediately started rotating joints, moving slightly to find out if anything was injured. He didn't find anything wrong, and found that puzzling. Besides a slight bruise on his shoulder where he had landed on his broomstick, he was perfectly fine. The chaser who was lying next to him, however, was holding his ankle, biting his lip.

"Stay still, we'll get you to the Hospital Wing." The other boy nodded, and pressed his eyes closed, apparently trying to not cry. Alex stood and looked over to where his brother had just landed a few feet over from where they were.

"Are you alright?" Draco immediately grabbed him, and did a visual inventory of his brother, being careful to look for any blood among the mud and rain water.

"I'm fine, but we need to get him over to the Hospital Wing. Vince, Greg, can you carry him?" Alex looked at the two boys, "If you clasp your hands, and hold them like a chair, we can put him in your arms, and it will be easier to carry him like that. If you get tired, the rest of us can give it a go."

"What about levitating him?" Asked Draco, frowning.

"I don't know about you, but I don't think that my aim is good enough to get him to the Hospital Wing without dropping him, or banging him on something." Alex just gestured for them to come with him. "How about one of the others runs ahead to tell her that we're coming, so she's ready?"

Several moments later, one of the Slytherins was off running, and the others were escorting their injured teammate, who was cradled between Crabbe and Goyle, to the Hospital Wing. Their going was slow, but by the time they made it up to the floor the Hospital Wing was on, Madame Pomferey was waiting for them, and conjured a stretcher for the boy, leading him away from them quickly, the other players trailing behind her a little like lost ducklings.

When she was certain that the other boy was fine, she turned to the others.

"What happened?"

"We were practicing, and then he fell off, right on top of Alex, the two of them went down, and we thought that Alex had landed on his head, but then he was up, and telling us to get the other guy to here." Zabini helpfully supplied. Madame Pomferey's eyes narrowed in Alex's direction.

"Head, eh?" Her voice was slightly cold, and made the blonde Slytherin back up slightly, hands raised defensively.

"I feel fine, though!"

"I'll be the one to determine that, Mr. Malfoy!" Several scans, and proddings later, and she was satisfied that Alex was not in fact injured. Saying that he felt like he was cold, and promising to take a warm shower, Alex was allowed out of the ward to return to his dormitory.

When he was in the dormitory, he peeled off his wet clothing, and grabbed a towel to dry his hair with. Sitting down, he grabbed the book he had been reading out of his bag, and opened it to where he was reading before. He had a vague suspicion that needed to be put to rest.

'_She made it through the course of a year, a protection amulet for her elder brother. While wearing it, he would never suffer from common illness, high falls, simple weapons, or low level spells._

_The pendant was a jade rose on a gold chain. The most delicate and fine pieces of art I have ever seen. The chain, though thin, would not break, when I had two horses tied to it and running in opposite directions. As far as I know, there is nothing as valuable, nor of the same craft as this necklace. For in it is a sister's love, support, and power.'_

Alex pulled the necklace from around his neck, and stared at it. A protection amulet.

By Melin.

He had _met_ Merlin, Arthur, and Morgan le Fay. Boy, was he in trouble if they were messing with his life.

--

Alex was reading the book in the library a week later, as he had taken to doing in his spare time. He was actually considering looking at some of the other books on the shelves he was looking at. Specifically, he was thinking about the one on the shelf that gave off an aura of magic. There wasn't any title on it, but he just got a feeling from it, not to mention the fact that its cover was of some material that he couldn't quite identify by just looking at it on the shelf. He had vague bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, and all he cared about was getting through the book, and learning as he could.

So he was sitting in the back of the library under a window, fervently reading the last chapter of the book, when Hermione came and sat down across from him. Alex ignored her, continuing to read, until her silence finally annoyed him.

He scowled, and looked up at her.

"What is it?" he asked her. And then he noticed the hopeful expression on her face, her eyes glistening slightly. He stiffened.

"Are you him?" she asked, her voice quiet.

"Who?" asked Alex suspiciously.

"I mean, the story you told us. Who else has that past? Who else would have abusive relatives, and those eyes? No one I know of in the Malfoy family has green eyes. And you have the scar, on your right arm, the same place and shape that he had from the basilisk-" she babbled, and a tear escaped her eyes, as she suddenly stopped, and looked at him with hope in her face, and when she spoke her voice was barely a whisper. "Are you Harry?"

Alex narrowed his eyes at her.

"Why would you think that I could possibly be Harry Potter?"

Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

"I never said his last name."

"Shit." Alex stood up, shoving his books into his bag.

"You are, aren't you? Why didn't you tell us you were alive? Do you know how hard it has been? Thinking that you were dead?" She was still speaking quietly, staring at him tearfully.

"You can lecture me all you want, just not here. Wipe your face, and follow me." He only waited a moment before he strode through the library, robes billowing, his pace causing Hermione to hurry in order to keep up. Alex led her to the Slytherin common room, where he whispered the password, and then walked in, pretending he wasn't leading a Gryffindor straight to the Slytherin boys' dorm.

When he threw the door open with a bang, Draco and Theodore Nott both looked up in shock from their homework.

"Out," said Alex firmly, glancing at Not, who nodded, grabbed his stuff and left. Alex pointed to a bed, and Hermione meekly obeyed.

"Why'd you drag a girl in here, Alex?" asked Draco, cautiously standing up. In all truth, his brother dragging the female part of the Golden trio to the dorm was making him nervous.

"She guessed." Alex's face was a glower as Draco broke into a smirk.

"Told you so."

"Don't you dare go there."

Why?"

"I'm not in the mood."

"Why wouldn't you want a friend back?"

"Who says I want any of them back?"

"I've noticed how you look at them, little brother. Except for Weasley, he's just a git."

"Why does it matter?" Alex was glaring at Draco, eyes narrowed, his teeth gritted.

"Because if it makes you happy, I'll befriend Granger and Longbottom. We _are_ family after all."

"Ron only ever used me! Every time he thought that I was leaving him behind, he cut himself off from me! None of them care!" Alex felt the tears coming, and turned his back on both of them.

"I'd say differently, considering one of those people is currently sitting on your bed crying." Draco's voice was quiet, but it was enough to make Alex turn around to look at Hermione. She had a sad expression on her face, tears dripping down her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" asked Alex curiously, anger forgotten in his puzzlement.

"When did you start thinking we didn't care?" asked Hermione.

"When Ron abandoned me in fourth year, because he thought I would leave him out. When everyone turned against me in second year for being a parselmouth. When the teachers ignored our warnings in first year because we were children. When everyone turned against me last year for telling the truth – that Voldemort was back. When Ron in second year ignored the fact that I had bars on my window. How you all ignored how thin I was, how big my clothes were, the bruises. Why didn't any of you care?" Alex yelled the last bit, and then ducked his head. He hadn't meant to say so much.

When he heard the bed creak slightly he figured that Hermione was getting up to leave, until he felt her wrap her arms around him, and hold him tightly. He was so shocked he could only listen as she spoke quietly.

"Some of us _do_ care, Harry. If I wasn't a great friend in the past, I apologize. Just, give me a second chance." Alex looked over Hermione's shoulder to look at his brother, who nodded.

"All right. I'll give you a chance." Alex muttered. "But you have to listen to our story, and promise not to tell anyone."

"But Neville, Dean Seamus, Ginny-"

"Will have to figure it out for their own, considering how many clues Dork-head has left them," sneered Draco. Hermione's eyes narrowed, but before she could give Draco a lecture, Alex laughed.

"You never will let that drop, will you?"

"Never, little brother."

"Why do you call him 'little brother'? You're not actually related, are you?" Hermione was standing between them frowning.

"Maybe we should tell Granger what's going on." Draco grinned slightly predatorily.

"Don't scare her, it's not nice."

"Who are you to judge what's nice?" asked Draco, smirking. In retaliation Alex grabbed a teddy bear out from under his bed and threw it at Draco's head. "Do you call that payback?" asked Draco, smirking.

"Shut up."

"Fine."

And then they spent half an hour explaining to Hermione what had happened in the past few months. After they were done, she hugged Alex, and then lunged, and enveloped Draco in a hug as well.

"What was that explosion of love for?" complained Draco as he pushed her off, and tried to straighten his hair.

"You've taken care of Harry, thank you!" she lunged forward again and hugged him, landing a kiss on his cheek before backing away.

"You have to remember to call me Alex, though. You can't slip up. Everything depends on this!" Alex reminded her.

"Of course. I wont tell anyone. You can trust me." Hermione grinned. "I'm so glad you're back!"

"You wont be after we take you to Snape's office tomorrow at lunch," muttered Draco.

"Why?" she looked nervous.

"Because we need to tell Severus when people find out, so that he can let our parents know. He wont hurt you, just tell you the rules, and decide when you are going to start learning Occlumency." Alex smiled.

"Occlumency?"

"To protect the information you now know about Alex, of course," sneered Draco half-heartedly.

"Oh, okay then." She smiled. "Thanks for telling me all of this."

"Didn't have much of a choice – Ow!" Draco yelped as Alex smacked him in the back of the head.

"No problem. I'm sure you know the way out. Just walk like you own the place, and glare at anyone who stands in your way, not that anyone will, considering you came in with me, but you never know. See you in the morning." Alex smiled at Hermione as she left. Once the door was shut, he poked Draco in the ribs. "Why'd you have to get one last barb in?"

"Old habits die hard. Has anyone ever told you that you have bony fingers?" Draco asked as he rubbed his side.

Alex huffed, and pushed Draco off the bed.

"Well, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

"Oh, come on."

"Nope. Good night." Alex pulled the curtains around his bed closed, and undressed, before curling up under the blankets, smiling to himself.

--

Alex walked into the Great Hall the next morning, and was immediately waved over to the Gryffindor table by Hermione.

"Good morning, Hermione. How are you this morning?" asked Alex, smiling at her politely.

"Oh, well enough. However, Draco has been glaring at me for a bit." Both of them turned to look at the blonde in question, and indeed, he was glaring at them, Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him shifting uncomfortably. "Did anything happen between the two of you after I left last night?"

Alex ignored the raised eyebrow from Dean, the glare from Ron, and the curious look from Seamus at the comment and answered.

"Well, I was annoyed at him for being rude to you."

"He wasn't rude."

"But he snapped at you." Alex frowned in confusion. Why wasn't she upset?

"Well, he handled the situation fairly well, considering the topic of our conversation. But I totally agree with him that I should do everything possible to help."

"True, but-"

"No, Alex. Now, go and apologize to Draco for whatever you said to him last night."

"But-"

"Now." Hermione gave him a stern scowl, crossing her arms over her chest. Alex sighed, carefully ignoring the strange looks he was receiving from most of the students, and the glare he was still receiving from Ron.

Resignedly, Alex walked over to the Slytherin table, feeling Hermione's eyes on him the whole time. When he reached where his brother was sitting, Alex knelt, holding out a hand to Draco.

"Oh, dearest relation of mine! Brother of my heart! I beg forgiveness from your lovely lips for the wrong I have done thee!" Alex knew that he was attracting attention, but he didn't particularly care. He bowed his head in false chagrin, knowing his brother was either thoroughly embarrassed, or was playing it up.

"You are forgiven." Draco gave a haughty sniff.

"Thanks you, oh noble one."

"You may rise and take up your seat on my left side."

"Oh, my kin is too generous." Alex grinned, standing up to look at his brother, and sliding onto the bench beside him.

"You better believe it." Draco nodded at him, before leaning over to whisper in his ear quietly. "What did you and Granger talk about?"

"She told me she understood how you were thinking, in her logical way, and told me to apologize for what I said to you. She didn't know what had been said, but told me to apologize anyways."

"Sorry I was glaring at her." Draco breathed, buttering a piece of toast.

"Don't worry about it."

"I was afraid you might not want to be with me anymore, that you'd want to be with them." Draco's voice was almost non-existent, so Alex leant his head on his brother's shoulder, taking a bite of toast with bitter and raspberry jam on it.

"Well, I wont. You're stuck with me now." There was a moment in which they simply enjoyed one another's presence, until a large glob of jam fell off of Alex's toast onto Draco's uniform pants.

Draco's left eye twitched a little. The people sitting around them froze. If there was one thing Draco Malfoy cared about, it was his clothing.

"Oops."

"'Oops'? That's all you have to say?" Draco's voice was a dangerous purr.

"Well, you can always wash it. Jam doesn't stain if you wash it quick enough."

"That's not eh point. How do you know that, anyway?" Draco was looking at Alex out of the corner of his eye.

"You really want to know the answer to that?"

Draco immediately deflated, a look of sorrow on his face.

"No. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, even I've forgotten it at times, recently." Alex smiled at his brother, and then wrapped his arms around him, squeezing as tightly as he could. "But you know I love you anyway."

"C-can't…breathe…" gasped Draco, running out of oxygen, and surprised at the sudden show of affection.

"Don't worry, I know love will replace the oxygen in your blood and lungs." Alex smiled as he loosened his grip somewhat, and snuggled up to his brother, liking the contact.

Draco seemed to realize that his brother needed the love that came with such a simple gesture as a hug, and so wrapped his arms around him briefly, squeezing gently, before letting go, leaving one arm casually draped over the other boy's back, and eating around the growth attached to his side. He would occasionally offer the other boy of piece of fruit of a bite of eggs of toast, which were accepted, though Alex made no move to detach himself.

"We have to go to class now. You know, transfiguration?" Draco asked, casually, attempting to stand up.

"Okay." Alex stood up with him, and they began to walk to class, still clinging to his brother.

"Do I even want to know?" Asked Pansy as they all headed up the stairs to their first class, Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs.

"No, I don't think that you really do."

"All right. So, do the reading?" She grinned at him as he glared back at her. Bother were surprised when Alex spoke up from his current position with his head under his brother's arm.

"I've finished all of the homework for the next week."

"What!?" They both looked at him with wide eyes.

"I'm doing extra research. Besides, it's just reading and essays, those are fast."

"Crazy. Who would have thought that a Ravenclaw would make it into Slytherin?"

"Actually, the hat decided to put me in Slytherin because I have a bit of cunning. It also said that I had some bravery, and loyalty. But most of all I could be deceptive. He said that everyone's like that. Loyal. Just depends on to whom they're loyal. Snakes are just loyal to their own hide, and their family."

"Wow. Never thought of it that way." Pansy frowned as they lined up outside of the classroom. "But I guess it makes some sense."

"And yet people insist on all of the stupid rivalries. See why I have a problem with the system?" Alex smiled at them, and pulled himself away from his brother when McGonagal showed up.

The afternoon passed calmly, and it seemed that all too soon it was time for lunch, and they were meeting Hermione outside of the Potions classroom. When they walked in, Snape looked up, surprised.

"What can I do for you?"

"We need to talk. In your office." Said Draco, face serious.

Snape must have understood the importance of the situation because he ushered them into his office without question.

"What is this about?" asked Snape once all of them were seated in front of his desk.

"Granger figured out the previous identity of Alex here." Draco replied, grinning.

"Ah, so the boy was being too obvious?" asked Snape with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep."

"Said boy is still here, you guys." Alex scowled at them.

"Well, it's nothing less than you deserve, what with how open you have been about your 'past'."

"Well, I couldn't help t, they were all so nosy, and kept wanting me to explain myself. It just really annoyed me." Alex crossed his arms over his chest, and pouted at them.

"I hope that you realize that if Ms. Granger here was able to figure things out, the others wont be too far behind her." Snape raised an eyebrow at them.

"Then we'll just have to be ready for hem when they do find out." Draco smirked at his godfather, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We will. Now, the matter you originally came here to discuss would be…?" Snape let the end of his question dangle, waiting for one of them to answer.

"We need to set up a time for Granger to go through Occlumency training. It's too dangerous for her to walk around here without anything protecting the information that is now residing within her skull." Draco sneered at the girl, and Alex kicked him in the shin. Discreetly.

"Ah, that would be wise. Would Tuesdays for remedial potions work for you Ms. Granger? For an hour after dinner?" Snape looked at her calmly, his face not giving away anything about what was going on inside his head at that moment.

"That would be fine, sir."

"Good. Now, you can all run upstairs, grab a bite of food, and then hope that you aren't late for your next class." Snape scowled at them all as they got up to leave. Alex rushed around the desk, and hugged the man before hurrying after Draco and Hermione. Snape just intensified his scowl. Although he would never actually admit it, he did slightly enjoy the bursts of affection that Alex would show towards him. It showed that the boy was healing. Both mentally and physically. And then it hit him. He would need to make the excuse of remedial potions to McGonagal. He was not looking forward to that.

Sweeping in to his classroom, he prepared to terrorize a class of second year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Scowling, he wrote the instructions on the board, and then laid in wait just out of sight. Smirking, he anticipated the points that would be taken this afternoon. Oh, yes. Points would fall.


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I make no money. JKR owns this, and is therefore rich. I only have a part-time job. And no life. On with the story!

Chapter 12

Alex wasn't normally a suspicious person. However, when a certain Dark Lord suddenly goes quiet around the start of October, and refuses to tell anyone, even Lucius Malfoy, what he was planning, then Alex began to worry. A lot. Although he was no longer at the top of the 'Wipe Off the Face of the Earth' list, there might still be a bit of distrust, and the thought that at some time one of them might try to wipe the other off of the face of the planet. Voldemort's paranoia being not so…paranoid. Alex _was_ planning something. However, it involved getting into the center of the Dark Lord's ranks, and that would take time. Actually, he hoped to accomplish this by the end of the year. Not that he wanted to give himself false hope, the Dark Lord was paranoid, but hopefully, with a bit of help from a certain magical group of people, he would be able to achieve his goal, without Dumbledore ever becoming aware of the fact that his Golden Boy had gone dark. Or gray. Gray was good. Gray wouldn't get him killed on sight.

So it happened that on Saturday, October 20, Alex entered into a trance. Or a deep state of meditation, whichever definition makes the most sense in this situation. At the time of the trance, he was sitting in the Slytherin Common room, and to anyone else merely looked like he was staring at their Transfiguration homework blankly.

Alex opened his eyes, and he was again in the room with the books piled high, Art and Myrd were still playing chess, and Gan was nowhere to be found. Stepping forward, he noticed that the pieces on the board had moved only a few spaces, the black side having moved one of its pawns ahead, and the white moving a knight out onto the board. The black and white splotched bishop was still in the center of the board, although it was moving to the side, where Gan had been sitting the last time he had come here.

"Hey, where's Gan?" Alex watched amused as Art jumped slightly, before glaring at Myrd.

"I'm back here!" Alex turned around to look towards the back of the room, and saw Gan come out of the darkness, ruby at her throat catching the dim light, carrying a heavy marble chess board that matched the other on the table. "I just finished this! Took me since our last meeting, too. You like?"

Alex smiled at the board, he could imagine that that would be heavy, but then again, they were in a painting, anything was possible.

"What's that for?" He asked curiously, wondering why they had another chess board.

"Why, for the gray, silly!" She smiled at him, and laid the board down next to the first, and almost immediately Myrd's hand snapped out and the spotted bishop moved over the three spaces between it and the other board, turning completely gray as it went. Gan reached into the white's graveyard, and pulled out a knight, which as she held it, morphed into a gray king. Alex looked at the board, almost entranced, before he shook his head, and remembered what he had wanted to talk to them about.

"You're the most famous wizard of the wizarding world!" exclaimed Alex, pointing at Myrd accusingly.

"You don't say." Muttered the young man, watching closely as Art moved one of the black pawns in the direction of the white side of the board, it turning gray as it moved the one space.

"Why don't you care? Do you know how weird this is for me? First that bookshelf shows up, then you are playing chess with three colors, and why _gray_?!?" Alex gave his hair a tug, pulling the blonde locks from their neat ponytail. Gan tisked at him, and pulled him over to the couch, sitting him down, and then moving behind him to start pulling her fingers through his hair, pulling the strands away from his face. The movements, the fingers caressing his scalp, almost a massage, was very relaxing.

"Would you prefer that the gray pieces were pink? Or purple?" asked Myrd, raising his face from the game, looking at Alex inquiringly.

"No."

"Good, because we don't pick the colors, fate does."

"Fate?"

"Yep, cold bitch that she is, but we only are allowed to interfere as much as is suitable without meddling with the future too much. Other than that, we are only allowed to observe, and wait until it is time for us to re-emerge from this space between realities." He smiled at how Alex's eyes were starting to droop, and Alex thought that that may be the most attractive thing he had ever seen. Too bad he was taken.

"Relax, child." Gan murmured to him, continuing to run her fingers through his hair, and he felt himself falling back, laying his head in her lap, and snuggling into her, basking in the comfort and care she was offering him. "If you ever need a little extra help, go to the Carpathean Mountains, find the lowest peak, and find Mordred, he will be able to help you. He's a bit stand-offish, but a good boy."

Alex could merely make a small sound of agreement, as the gentle caresses soothed him into the best sleep he had had in weeks, listening to Gan hum the whole time, his cheek pillowed on her thigh. Just before falling to sleep, he could feel a light kiss dropped to his forehead, and Gan whisper "Sleep, my child, for you will be awake too soon. And then there is nothing more we can do for you once you are gone from my arms."

--

"Alex….Alex….Alex...Alex..!" Alex jerked away, cracking his head into Blaise's forehead, in turn making the back of Blaise's head connect with Gregory Goyle's nose.

"Oh, sorry! So sorry, are you okay, Greg?" Alex bypassed Blaise ,who was rubbing both sides of his head to instead reach for Goyle, who waved him off, straightening, and gently fingering his nose.

"No, I'm fine, Alex. Thanks for asking, though."

"Anytime."

"And what about me? I got a direct hit from that hard skull of yours." Blaise pouted.

"I have no pity for you. You woke me up." Alex glared at him.

"Fine. Then I suppose you don't want to be informed that there is one Seamus Finnegan waiting in the hall outside of the common room, do you?" Alex smiled at him, and then bounced off without a word. "What, no thanks?" was called after him as he made his way to the wall that was the entrance of the Slytherin common room. True to Blaise's word, Seamus stood outside the common room, grinning like he usually was, with his bag slung over his shoulder.

"Alex! Great to see you. Hey, I was wondering if you would like to work on that essay for Transfiguration with me? I don't know about you, but I felt out of my depth when MacGonagal was going on about visualizing all the properties helped, and something about the wand movement not being too strong or too soft..." Alex grinned as the Irish boy began to babble a bit.

"Sure, I'd love to work on the essay with you. As long as you don't mind taking the essay of Ginny's that I've looked over to her when you go back up to the tower." Seamus grinned back at him.

"No problem, mate! I'd be happy to, what subject are you helping her with?" Seamus followed Alex into the common room, ignoring all of the curious glances sent their way.

"Oh, just Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions. I help her make connections with those and things she likes, most often I make practical uses out of the ingredients and uses so that she can understand the reason why they have to be added in a certain order, in certain amounts, why it has to be a certain ingredient, when you can make substitutions, and what the effects of everything is." Alex glared at Blaise, who merely moved over on the couch, not moving away. Finally he got exasperated. "Blaise, would you move?"

"Nope. Your cousin made me swear to not leave you alone, you apparently get into a lot of trouble when you're on your own. So, I shall stay here, and listen to your riveting conversation." The dark haired boy smirked at them, and Alex sighed.

"Apparently we are resigned to his presence. So, have a seat Seamus, and pull out your notes. Let's enjoy ourselves." Alex smiled, and sat down, pulling out his partially started essay, and grinned to himself. This would be nice. An hour later, they finished, and Alex was actually sad to see the amusing Gryffindor leave, walking away through the stone corridors.

"Hey Alex!" The blonde turned around to look at the boy, already at the end of the corridor. "See you again tomorrow?"

"Sure thing."

"Yes!" Seamus punched the air, and Alex laughed, heading back into his common room.

A/N: Yes, I have decided…. Harry/Seamus. If you have any major opinions, share them, it's good for you, but I can't promise I will do anything about it. I couldn't do a Harry/Ginny, I just couldn't. It would drive me insane. Sorry it's been so long, I have a hell of a week coming up, and have had a lot of papers to write lately.

Much Love,

AoMorigirl


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, as proven by the size of my most recent paycheck. Many thanks to those who reviewed last chapter!

A/N: So sorry for the gaps between updates, my mom subscribed to my author profile, so she knows when I update and my time is highly monitored and full of writing essays until after I got into college. Then the college transition, and a teacher who thinks 80 pages a night for students with a full load is perfectly doable on top of an essay…. You know. Sorry it's been so long! Lovels to all.

Chapter 13

"Alex." Alex gulped as the chilly voice crooned softly into his ear with a tone that promised pain. "I just heard the strangest thing from Pansy. Apparently, a certain playboy Gryffindor was here for an hour or so, with a certain _brother_ of mine, rather cozy on the couch. Said Gryffindor then proceeded to ask said darling brother out on a date. Now, she must be completely off her nut to think that she saw that, right?"

"Of course! She must have seen someone else sitting here."

"Of course." And then he was being dragged out of his chair, across the common room, up the stairs, and into the boys' dormitory. Draco shut the door behind him, and waved his wand at it, warding against any eavesdroppers.

"What's up with you today?" Alex had never seen his brother like this; he was standing quietly in front of the door, back to Alex, head bowed, and shoulders tense, his hand gripping his wand tightly.

"What's up with me?" Draco's voice was quiet, almost sad, and Alex found himself moving forward to touch his brother's shoulder. Before he could move more than a step, his brother whirled around to face him. "What I want to know is why you seem to be so damn bloody eager for everyone to know who you are!"

Alex was rather taken aback, he had felt there was something being held back, and now it seemed like he was about to find out what had been lying under the surface of his brother's calm Malfoy façade.

"It seems like every time one of your old friends comes into the picture, you just up and leave m-us all alone, you forget about all of us in your house, you don't even seem to notice us! And then with them all slowly connecting the dots, it's driving me crazy!"

"Dra-"

"No, you let me finish. The holidays will be coming soon. And I have no idea what you are intending to do! Who are you siding with? What is there to do? Have you planned anything? Have you thought about this at all? What you're considering is almost guaranteed suicide! There's nothing I can do unless you talk to me! I want to help you, you're my brother, and brothers stay together, so if you think you're leaving me out-"

"Draco!"

"What?" Draco rounded on Alex, snarling.

"I'm not going to abandon you, I have some friends that I have made, and they are sort of helping…" Alex frowned. "Although besides dropping hints and playing chess they seem unable to do much else. But I do have an idea of what I want to do." Alex took his brother's hand, and drew him close to whisper in his ear. "I will take down Dumbledore, and when Voldie is at his highest I will bring him down as well. And we shall be rid of the two puppeteers in one day. But, as Gan would say, I need more pieces on the gray side of the board."

Draco drew back and frowned.

"Gray?"

"Oh yes," Alex grinned, "I have my own board and everything. Apparently, Snapey is highly conflicted, because he has three colored stripes."

"I wont even ask."

"Probably good."

LINE BREAK

Lucius was walking to his study, intent on the walk, going over what he letters he had to write, not really paying attention. He reached for the handle to his office and stopped. He turned around slowly to face the wall to the left of his office. The life-sized painting that he had never been able to remove had changed again. He had noticed recently that the occupants were more excited than usual, and what really struck him was how the painting had changed. He hadn't thought that the characters could alter their portrait. And yet, there it was.

All three were watching one piece on the board very intently. Although it was no longer one board, but three. One bore white pieces, another black, and the third, furthest from him had three gray pieces, although one of them had a stripe of white across it's front. The king was sitting there innocently. Among the white and black pieces were scattered gray pieces. The piece that they were watching so intently however, was a bishop in the middle of the board, whose colors were swirling, the gray, white, and black reminding Lucius of the effects of certain muggle drugs, or perhaps their tie-dyed pictures…

And as he watched, it appeared that the piece was undergoing an internal battle, and the gray was slowly overpowering the other two colors as they melded together. The young woman pushed her blonde hair back from her face with an annoyed huff. She glared at the board, and drummed her fingers against the table impatiently. Lucius guessed that she might be waiting to make her move, but the way she was staring was too intent, almost as if she was waiting for something to happen.

And then she apparently saw it, and lunged forward to grab a pawn from the white side and move it towards the center of the boards, and the bishop. By one space.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, stood up, and did a small dance before moving to the couch and flopping down on it. After a moment she looked up to lock her blue, almost black eyes with his silver eyes. She scowled and pushed her long bangs back from her face again before looking at Lucius intently. She got up, and walked towards him, moving around the table until she was standing in front of him, their eyes almost equal, and it startled Lucius how life like she looked, almost as if he could reach past the border of the portrait and touch her.

He suddenly remembered how he would talk to her when he was younger, how she told him about the history of the world. And then he had forgotten, gotten involved with the wrong people. Forgotten his old allies.

"I apologize for not having spoken to you for so long." His voice was quiet, but the two boys obviously heard him as they ceased their intent staring in order to look at him closely, to judge if he was sincere. "I have been preoccupied with other matters."

"That is all right, Lucius. We understand that the living must go on, we can only hope that we are not forgotten along the way." She smiled softly. "What would you like to know?"

"Where did you all come from? Who were you when you were alive, and what did you do to have yourselves placed in this mansion when it was built? The records have long since vanished, if there were any to begin with."

"Isn't that what we are here for? To educate your family? I remember the days when I would teach the children to read and write. But that is past us. Darling, would you pass me the book on the top of the pile behind you?" Without looking, and apparently not needing to be told who she had requested the action of, the blonde boy reached behind himself, and grabbed a green book with gold lettering from the top of the stack. He tossed it to her without looking where he was throwing it to, before he became as still as a statue again. His sister caught the book without much trouble, and then opened it to a seemingly random section, and running her finger down the thin, delicate looking page. "Ah, here we are, would you care to take a seat?"

Lucius conjured a low chair for himself to perch on, while the young woman in front of him sat down on the floor gracefully, sitting with her back straight, and her dress flaring around her slightly, pooling on the ground, making her look like a strange flower from his standing perspective. As she began to read from the book, he realized that she was telling him a story from when he was a child, and he would come to her when his father had punished him for an imagined misdeed. This story was about a young mother and her family, who were cursed with eternal life.

LINE BREAK

When the people around the small family had realized that the four adults were not aging with the rest of the world, they greedily pursued them to find out their secret. In their pursuit they discovered that the darkest of the group was not simply a cousin as they had been informed, but the son of the two siblings. He had been created through a potions mistake, in an effort to create a spell of protection. The young friends, when they had realized the child would not survive with only the genes of two siblings, performed a dark ritual on him to make the boy into the son of their close friend, making him the child of all three, allowing him to live, and loving him for being a union of them all. This relationship was not accepted by the people of the town. They called them witches, threatened them, they threatened to burn them if they did not repent. Of course the strong-minded friends refused to bow to this new religion that claimed them evil for using what they had been given from birth, before this so-called one true religion was even known, even thought of.

The townspeople attacked them.

The eldest, the brother who had worked as a healer in the town, who had saved the lives of many who were attacking them, used his magic to keep the people away for a time, while his sister and her husband helped their son escape. He was cursed with the same unchanging form, and they would not let him be caught as well. So they sent him into the night, despite their love for him, because of their love for him. They watched him disappear into thin air, watched his eyes widen in horror as his father shoved a bag into his hands that whisked him away from them, away from their lives. It broke their hearts, but they were able to stand tall as they were condemned, safe in the knowledge that they would not get their cherished child.

The town decided it only fit to use their own spells on them. When their book of spell was brought forth, the three summoned their book to them, and spoke a spell together, holding hands, and heads thrown back, not needing to look to know the words that would seal their fate.

'_In blessed life we were of flesh, in blessed peace we lived. Now we shall endure afresh, the pains and joys of those we saved. No more flesh, no more life. Of living memory, we will remain. Until the day when we are once again welcome, once again wanted and needed, we shall watch and listen. A living, enduring memory, we shall remain'_

And as the people watched, they disappeared before their eyes. They left, and spent time in their new form, passed from family to family, generation to generation, and they watched. They watched their former friends fight and die. They watched the people they cared for try to interact with this new world that was emerging, and in the end have to go into hiding. They watched and watched. And they waited. Oh, how they waited.

LINE BREAK

All through the story she gestured and smiled, she spoke, sang, and channeled the story, the life behind it and the emotions felt by those within the world she described.

"Yes, but what about the manor? How did you come to be here, specifically?" Lucius was now sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest, sitting on the ground, watching her and feeling as curious and anxious as he had when he was a little boy, hearing this tale for the first time. Although at that time he was more interested in the romantic parts of the story, hearing of their love, and how they cared for their own.

"I was just getting there. Now hush." She smiled, and then swept her hand in an arc, arms conveying the area she was describing.

LINE BREAK

A year to the day after the family was attacked animals started disappearing from the town. They would reappear in another place, farther and farther from the town. Then items would go missing. People would find their kitchen tables down by the river, women would find their weaving in the pigpens. Then the crops started to fail, resulting in smaller and smaller harvests. The final straw came when every person from the town found that in the middle of the night they had all been moved, beds and all, out of the town and into the gorge, rather far away, all of them in the middle of the road. They all decided that enough was enough, and they sold the land to a rich aristocrat, who thought that his son would love to live there when he found a wife. It was rather well isolated, perfect for a rich wizarding family with no wish to be disturbed. And so, with proper magic, and spells, the manor began to rise.

As years passed, more rooms were added, but what always stumped the family, was when, two years after the mansion was built, a portrait appeared in the middle of a corridor with no obvious importance. There was nothing wrong with it, they had it tested, but it was strangely unremarkable, which was unusual and rather suspicious in the rather remarkable way that it had appeared to begin with.

Children in the mansion would sit in front of the portrait for hours, hearing of their history, stories with morals, stories with lessons, stories that were meant to be puzzled out, stories with no end, and stories that had no other purpose than to amuse, scare, or comfort. Despite it having three occupants, only one occupant of the portrait was widely well thought of, the other two referred to by children and some adults as 'the angry stone monuments that sit in the corner and play chess'. The other was referred to as 'Miss Story' because of the tales she told to any who would listen.

LINE BREAK

"You used to be the governess?" Lucius looked at her with something close to disbelief.

"Well of course, I have had a big role in this family, believe you me." She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, letting the book in her lap fall shut.

"Aren't you giving yourself a little too much credit?" he asked, smiling at her faintly, which if any who didn't know him saw, they would think was merely another one of his scowls, although a little lighter.

"Maybe. But hey, I do get a little credit." She smiled at him, and Lucius found himself wanting to ask a question that he had never felt the need to ask before.

"What about the woman? Did she ever see her son again?" He looked at her almost desperately, his own love for his sons twisting his heart as he thought of what lay before them.

"Of course she did. Just not for a long, long while. He had to find them first. But he looked with their friends, correctly assuming that they weren't still in the same town, and he found them." She looked at him sadly. "I hope that this war that is brewing will be over soon, there is too much at risk. Too much for us to sit idly."

"What do you mean?" asked Lucius urgently.

"It means, Lucius Malfoy," spoke a voice Lucius had not heard often before, but quickly realized came from the dark haired boy called Myrd, "that your family has more at stake than you realize, and that if things do not go satisfactorily in our opinions, we will interfere, we will do what is needed to ensure the longevity of those we have come to respect. If that means involving everyone that we have come to know in our existence, then so be it. But we will not lose, nor will we ignore that which is coming." And with that, he was back to the chessboard, studying the players carefully, as if he hadn't just threatened to join a war, something that a painting couldn't do.

"Pay Myrd no heed. Now, I believe that you have a meeting to be at." Gan smiled as she watched him leave in a rush, promising to come and visit them some time soon.

"If you keep giving him clues, sister, then he too will figure it out. And we don't want that."

"Who says I don't want him to know who we are?" She asked petulantly, looking at the opposite wall that was visible from their prison.

"The past says that if you get too attached to them that it just breaks your heart, my love. Now come, it is your turn to move the king towards the knight."

LINE BREAK

Alex was staring at the bookshelf in thought. He had just replaced his last piece of extracurricular reading, and was trying to decide which seemed least likely to get him into trouble. The Cooking one just didn't look like it could contain _anything_ good within its skin-bound pages. So, he instead chose a promising looking book off the shelf.

'_Using the Mind Arts to Unlock Your Beast'_ by Salazar Slytherin. Alex would have to figure that one out. Flipping the cover open and going to the introduction as he walked, he soon found the introduction. Inside was the first page as usual title, contents, and then the Introduction was credited with the words 'with input by Lady Fay and cohorts'. Now that got Alex's attention. Curious, he continued reading as he walked, not paying much attention to where he was going as he left the library and wandered down the halls.

'_From here forward, all written within '&' signs has been dictated by Lady Fay. This book was written with the intention of giving those attempting to learn the mind arts a way to learn with an incentive at the end. I have written this book because this method of teaching worked well on my daughters._

_&You realize that this book is more aptly called something similar to 'Using Your Animagus Form as an Indirect Way to Get You to Protect Your Mind' Yes?&. _

_Of course, this book is more to satisfy my urge to write something with you, and to have this for my own amusement in later years. _

_&Ah, so you do laugh at us secretly when we aren't there&. _

_There are several key points that whoever reads this should realize before they continue. The chatty nature of this book is intentional, and useful in giving multiple perspectives to whomsoever reads this, which makes the topic simpler to understand and remember. _

_&Because they are going to really remember what a normal book says. Those things are so dry you could sop up the lake in the front yard with them&. _

_And of course the comments strewn throughout make it easier to get through the readings necessary to unlock one's animagus form. If only by their simplistic and mindless nature._

From there Alex began to read about the ways in which he could to meditate so as to clear his mind and put his thoughts in order so that it would be easier to protect them behind Occlumency barriers. Alex was having better luck understanding this than he had with any of Snape's lessons, and if he did this, he could also figure out what his animagus form is as a bonus!

He was so busy considering all of the possibilities, and reading more about the mind arts that he didn't realize where he was going, or that there was someone walking towards him, equally as unaware of where they were going. Neither of them realized that they were set on a collision course until they ran straight into each other.

"I am so sorry." Alex looked up at Neville from where he had landed on the floor, the contents of his school bag scattered around him, and smiled.

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't paying any attention either."

"But I just feel so bad about knocking you over." Neville squirmed slightly and Alex smiled up at the Gryffindor who hadn't dropped anything when Alex bounced off of him.

"Don't worry about it. If you really feel the need to make it up to me, you can help me pick up my books."

"Absolutely." Alex was barely on his feet before the other boy had his books repacked, and was passing his bag back to him. Neville blushed as he held the bag out to Alex, smiling shyly.

"Thanks!" Alex took the bag back, smiling widely at the blushing boy. "Hey, where are you heading in such a rush?"

"Oh, I was on my way to the Gryffindor common room. I finished up in the Greenhouse a bit ago, and was going to hang out for a bit before dinner."

"Can I join you? I've been meaning to discuss Ginny's latest potions assignment with her, I would like to know if she has it back yet. Sadly, I do not know the password." Alex smiled his best winning smile at the boy.

"Oh, no problem. I'll let you in. Speaking of essays, I hear from Ginny that you're a good person to talk to when we would like something proofed. Would you mind reading my Defense essay?"

"No, of course not, as long as you check over my Herbology essay."

"I don't think that I am that great a person to check that out-"

"Nonsense, you are brilliant in the subject, I'm sure you'll do a great job. So, would you?"

"Um, sure. I guess I could."

"Thanks Neville!"

They continued to chat all the way to the common room. As they walked, Neville didn't notice Alex making a copy of the Potions essay in his bag, and tucking it into his own, covering the action by sliding his arm through the Gryffindor's. At the portrait of the fat lady, Neville gave the password, 'lily stalk', and the two walked into the Gryffindor common room. Only a few people stopped talking to look at them curiously. However, once Ginny launched herself across the room to hug him, most of those people went back to what they were doing. Very few people actually seemed to mind his presence in the common room anymore.

"Alex! Thank you so much! I passed! I got a good grade from Snape! You are a wonderful, magical, brilliant person!" Ginny pulled back from him and grabbed his arm to drag him to the other side of the room, where she was studying on the floor with some other students. "Look!" She pressed her graded paper at Alex, and then squealed.

Alex finally got over his shock at being accosted with no warning, and took the paper, reading the comments with a small smile on his face.

"Congratulation, Ginny. I knew that you would do well once you got the hang of it."

"I know!" She blushed. "Well, I didn't, I had my doubts, but I will never doubt you again. Ever! Never Ever!" She wrapped her arms around him again, and squeezed, making Alex squeak.

"Would you please let him breathe? I should think that he has to be getting back to the Slytherin Common Room pretty quick, right?" Ginny quickly let him go, and Alex turned to see Seamus standing behind him.

"I should. Perhaps you would like to walk me back to the dungeons?" Seamus smiled at him.

"I would love to. Ready?"

"Yes. Good night, Ginny. I will see you in the morning. Have a good evening." He looked around and smiled at Hermione and Neville, waved. "Goodnight."

He followed Seamus through the portrait hole, ignoring the slightly dark look he was receiving from Ron, and letting the portrait fall shut behind him.

"So, any reason in particular that you wanted to walk me back to the common room, besides laying yourself open for an attack from my cousin, and placing yourself in Slytherin territory?" Seamus grinned at Alex's question, and casually laid an arm across his shoulders.

"What, you think you're cousin scares me? Bah. I laugh in his face. With him being danger, and me laughing in said danger's face. Am I making sense? I think my metaphor fell out of a tree." Seamus frowned as he tried to figure out exactly what he had been saying before he lost his train of thought.

Alex chuckled, and then hooked an arm casually around Seamus' middle, since he was still too short to actually put his arm around the other boy's shoulder.

"I think I understand."

"Ah, always good to be understood. Those awkward moments are just so awkward when there is a lack of understanding."

"Of course." They walked in comfortable silence for a while, observing the portraits that they passed on their way through the castle.

"So, this weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend."

"Mmhmm?" Alex looked at Seamus out of the corner of his eye. The other boy was looking straight ahead, and Alex could almost feel his nervousness.

"Well, were you planning on doing anything with anyone?"

"I was probably just going to tag along with Draco and the rest of them for the afternoon, wander around. Why?" Alex stopped, and looked up into Seamus' face. Seamus looked down a little to meet Alex' eyes, and took a fortifying breath.

"So, would you like to meet up for the Hogsmeade trip this weekend? We could meet at the Three Broomsticks and then swing by Honeydukes or Zonkos. You know, hang out?" Alex smiled at Seamus.

"I would love to. Thank you for asking me."

"Really?"

"Really." They both turned, and continued walking down to the Slytherin common room. When they got to the entrance, they stopped, and Alex turned to look up at Seamus.

"Thank you for inviting me. And thank you for walking with me, walking with some one else is always so much more fun than walking alone."

"Any time." Seamus turned around, to leave, and so did Alex. "Wait."

In confusion, Alex turned around to ask if Seamus had forgotten something, when Seamus grabbed his chin, and pressed his lips to Alex' briefly. They were only touching for a moment, before Seamus pulled back, blushing.

"See you tomorrow," and then he ran off. Alex was left standing there, his lips slightly apart, tingling softly. He lifted his hand, fingertips gently brushing his lips. He stood there for a moment, a shocked look on his face. Then he smiled.

"What are you doing out here?" Alex jumped guiltily, and turned around sheepishly to look at his brother. Draco was giving him a suspicious look as he stood in the opening to the common room. "How long have you been out here?"

"N-not long. Just thinking." Alex shifted his weight slightly. Draco's eyes narrowed.

"Is that so."

"Yep." Alex smiled at him brightly. "Oh, and I got an invitation for Hogsmeade, so I'll walk down with you, and then break off to meet a friend. Does that sound good?"

"Who are you meeting?"

"Oh, a friend. We can meet up with you before we head back to school." Alex smiled at his brother, who was still looking at him with suspicion.

"All right. Just be careful. Come on, it's almost curfew." Draco snaked his arm through Alex's, and they walked back into the common room together.

"So, what are we going to do tonight?"

"Homework."

"I was talking about afterwards."

"Sleep."

"You are no fun. No fun at all, Draco. I know! How about we talk about our days, and hang out?"

"Why?"

"Why, to bond, you know, family bonding, sharing of the feelings and such. Nice, cozy stuff. We could get popcorn or something. Chocolate!" Alex was bouncing at the idea of salty popcorn and chocolate.

"No. No chocolate for you. You will never let us get to sleep." Alex pouted, and then perked up.

"Hey, Greg!" Alex ran towards the other boy sitting in an armchair, and plopped himself down in his lap, making his best puppy-dog face. "Would you let me have chocolate? Please?"

"Don't do it Greg." Draco shot their friend a baleful look. Greg looked horrified, trapped between the two Malfoys. There was no way out. He looked horrified with the possibility of having to choose the lesser of two evils. He looked absolutely horrified. Blaise snorted, successfully dragging everyone's attention to him instead.

"What?"

"Have something to say?" Both Malfoys spoke at the same time, scowling at him, clearly not appreciating his enjoyment of their predicament.

"No, of course not. Nothing to say here." Blaise held his hands up slightly, shaking his head at them, and smiling slightly. The Malfoys looked at him suspiciously for another few seconds before Alex sighed, and slid off of Greg's lap, and sitting on the couch beside him.

"Fine. None of you are any fun." Alex pouted, and then looked at the table with their homework spread out on it. Their current poison was Transfiguration. Alex wrinkled his nose, and reached into the bag still strapped across his back, pulling it forward, and dug around for a bit, looking for his own essay. He grumbled for a minute, before giving a tug, sending several other pieces of paper, a quill, and a few books flying around him. Immediately, he started to put it all away, stuffing it all back in, making sure that he got everything that had fallen out. He looked up, and saw Draco in front of him, holding the book by Salazar Slytherin. Alex froze, the blood draining from his face.

"Here," Draco passed him the book, then picked up his homework, and sat back down on the couch. He seemed to not have even glanced at the book he passed to his Alex. For his part, Alex was immensely relieved that Draco seemed to not have noticed what it was that he had passed to his brother. Alex looked at the time, and jumped.

"I forgot to do something. You guys study without me, I'll be right back!" Alex ran out of the common room, back bouncing against his back as he ran down the hall. He stopped in front of Snape's office, and knocked on the door. He only had to wait a moment for the door to open, revealing a scowling Snape.

"What do you want now, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I would like to start Occlumency lessons with you once I have finished reading a book on it." Alex smiled up at him, and brushed a stray piece of blonde hair back behind his ear.

"What book?" Snape's scowl doubled in intensity.

"No book in particular, I'd just like to try it out on my own first, and then have you maybe test it when I feel ready enough to actually try the practical application of the theory."

"Very well. I see no problem with testing your abilities. I will insist on seeing the book that you are pulling your knowledge from at that time, to make sure that you have found a credible source in which the author actually knows what they are talking about."

"Sounds reasonable to me, Professor. I'll leave you to it, then. Thank you very much, and have a good night!" Alex waved to his puzzled teacher, and walked calmly back the way he came, feeling much better now he had gotten that crossed off of his list. He smiled and hummed a bit of a tune that floated through his head. He had no idea where it came from, but it was catchy, and he was pretty sure that he was repeating the same verse over and over again. But he didn't particularly care. It was nice.

Alex skipped into the common room, and plopped down on the couch smiling. He felt like he had gotten something accomplished with his evening.

"So, what was so important that you had to go running out of the common room like there was a blast-ended skrewt chasing you?" Draco didn't look up from his DADA text as he poked Alex in the side.

"Just had to ask Snape for a favor."

"_Professor_ Snape, Alex"

"That's what I said."

"I'm not starting this with you right now. Study."

"All right." Alex pulled out his own textbook, then pulled out a copy of Neville's most recent potions essay, his green ink, and set to work figuring out exactly what the boy's problem with Potions was, and how he could help next time they met.

"Where'd you get that?" Blaise was leaning over Alex's shoulder. Alex jumped, jamming his head sideways into Blaise's nose.

"Don't scare me like that!" Alex smacked the back of Blaise's head as the other boy cradled his bruised nose.

"I'll try to remember that. But still-" Blaise winced, and sniffed, then dabbed at his nose to check for blood. Finding none, he finished his sentence. "Still, where'd you get it?"

"Nicked it from Neville's bag, copied it and put the original back. He asked me to tutor him, so I am attempting to figure out exactly what his weakness is in Potions. No one can be as utterly and truly fantasticly horrible at Potions as he is unless they tried. And I don't think that he does, so it must be something else."

"Why do you even care?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You sure you shouldn't be in Hufflepuff?" Blaise grinned, and rubbed the top of Alex's head.

"I'm a Slytherpuff, I tell you. And don't touch my ruddy hair!"

"What is it with you Malfoys and your hair? You're worse than Pansy!" Blaise was treated to identical glares from the two blondes. "Now that's just creepy. You two could be twins, you know that?"

Draco looked down at his book scowling, and Alex poked Blaise hard in the ribs.

"Leave us alone. Some of us are actually studying."

"Are you suggesting that I'm not?" Blaise put on a hurt look, his eyes widening, and his lower lip quivering a bit.

"Please. Like that would work." Alex rolled his eyes. "Do your Transfiguration homework, wouldn't want to turn your mouse into an actual train instead of a toy one, would you?"

"As if that could happen." Blaise rolled his eyes.

"Chater12, Blaise, paragraph 10," Draco muttered from where he was glaring at his Potions reading.

"Wait, really?" Blaise's eyes were wide.

"Yes, Sammel Tuftifor was trying to transfigure a train for his cousin as a present, but stressed the 'ah' instead of the 'eh'. Almost crushed to death under the engine." Draco flipped the potions page, still attempting to set the page on fire with just his eyes.

"Okay, studying now," Blaise pulled out his book, and began studying like his life depended on it. Alex snorted at his sudden attitude change, and circled a line of Neville's essay. Slytherins. Who'd have thought they were teenagers too.


End file.
